Joy for the Journey: Finding Hope in the Midst of TrialSample

When my children were much younger, I shared a photo on social media of our family walking down a park path. It got 117 likes and standard comments like:

• Awesome picture of a sweet family.
• This picture should be in an ad somewhere
• Love this!
• Such a beautiful family!

But the photo showed a family “pretending” to have it all together. If you could have looked at it with my eyes, you would’ve seen:

• A dad who might or might not be intoxicated.
• Beautiful, innocent children who have no clue what is going on, who deserve healthy parents but who do not have a present dad.
• A mom who is hurting in pain and anger, who is faking her smile, faking a perfect family, faking being happy. A mom who wonders if life will ever get better, who can hardly look at her husband, who desperately wants life to be better but isn’t sure it ever will be.
• A family in a terrible storm called addiction.

Recently, I shared a photo of our family as we look now. It got 150 likes and comments like:

• Beautiful family
• Love this family so very much.
• Great picture of a very cute family
• Awesome photo

This time, the photo shows a family that has been on—and will continue to be on—a journey of recovery. I look at it and see:

• A dad who is present in his kids’ lives, working a recovery program, and who checked in with his sponsor just a few minutes before this picture was taken.
• Beautiful children who see their now-healthy parents actively pursuing recovery through meetings, counseling, and sponsorship.
• A strong mom who doesn’t have to fake it but can be honest about her feelings.
• A husband and wife who have worked hard to build trust and have a stronger marriage today than before addiction took over.
• A family who loves each other and supports each other, who are willing to say that they don’t have it all together because they’re on a journey of recovery
• A family who has found peace, hope, and joy.

Your family might be like the first one… desperate to find peace, hope, and joy. Or maybe your family is like the second one… a family that has found peace, hope, and joy and continues on your journey.

No matter which “picture” you most relate to, God is present in both.

God is there in the pits and peaks. God is there in the triumphs and tragedies. God was with my family when we were faking it, barely clinging on to life, and God is there with us now as we proclaim His grace through our health and vulnerability.

If God is there in ALL situations, we can truly embrace JOY on the journey because our JOY is with Him.