We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 5:3-5 ESV
*Jamie Lee Curtis has good advice about staying the course. “Don’t leave. There’s a recovery phrase that says, “Stay on the bus… the scenery will change. You think you are having a bad week, but stay on the bus, because one of these days you will look out the window and it’ll be beautiful.””
Here are a few times I remember staying on the bus:
My grandmother promised me a trip to California as a graduation gift from high school, but that gift never materialized. I was crushed! I spent the summer working in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and saved as much money as I could. A childhood friend living in Van Nuys invited me to live with her. In September I purchased a one-way airline ticket from Minneapolis to LAX and my dream blossomed into a whole new life—more beautiful than I ever imagined!
I gave birth to my second child without pain medicine because the nurse kept reassuring me, “You are almost there!” I was in an environment where the baby was the chief concern and even though I wasn’t assertive at the time, I did persevere. It turned out that I was alert and euphoric during the delivery and the whole experience was—more beautiful than I ever imagined!
When we retired from Scottsdale Bible Church after 25 years, Darryl and I were encouraged to stop attending for a while to allow the church to reconnect to a new pastor. At the time it was heartbreaking to leave so many relationships, but God led me to establish a book club with a few of my dearest friends. Today we are still meeting, and our enduring friendship is—more beautiful than I ever imagined!
When I began writing my SoulWork workbook, I went down several different avenues attempting to find the right person to assist me. I spent a lot of money and each time I was reduced to, “I can’t do this!” I gritted my teeth, kept revising and eventually through this difficult, meandering process a profoundly helpful product was created—more beautiful than I ever imagined!
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*Good Housekeeping Magazine, October 2018