As I open the garage door, I gaze at the front yard, where our very own dogwood tree welcomes me home, its first blooms cheering my winter-struck flower bed.

Spring is my favorite time of the year. I love the fall, with its magnificent, colorful forests and crisp cool air after the scorching summer months, but there’s something about spring that makes my heart sing for joy.

After a long, dreadful winter, when nature dies and rests in complacent abandon, the first blooms remind me that there’s an end for every sorrow… and there’s hope in every trial.
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I find it important to create visual reminders of God’s grace in our lives. Symbols often anchor our hearts in truths which are usually shadowed by our troubles. As we go through the dreadful winters of death of a loved one, unemployment, loneliness or sickness, it is so very hard to keep our focus beyond our circumstances. The blooming of dogwood trees in spring has become one of those symbols to me: a reminder to keep my focus in check, each time I’m going through a shadowy valley.

‘”No pain lasts forever,” the blooms sing to me. God is always at work, birthing new joys when we think all hope is gone.

The wise King Solomon put it this way: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance (…)” Ecclesiastes 3:4

I can’t compare other people’s sufferings with my own, but I’ve certainly had my share of troubles. I’ve gone through many health problems, including cancer. I’ve lost a loved one in a tragic accident. We’ve lost a lot of money in a business venture. We’ve experienced unemployment and the financial burden that it brings to a family. I’ve experienced the emptiness and loneliness that followed my separation from family and friends when I moved to America.

Life has certainly not always been a bed of thornless roses. But as I look past each trouble I’ve faced, this truth stands out, larger than anything I’ve ever endured:

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Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning - Psalm 30:5
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This truth, proclaimed by King David, who certainly knew hardship and pain, has been repeatedly tested and proven in my life:

God has always provided me with the grace needed to endure each testing – if only I would choose to look up to Him, instead of fixing my eyes on my fleeting circumstances.
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I look at the picture we took almost nine years ago in front of our dogwood tree and I can’t help but smile.

At the time we planted it, the tree was but a small, puny green shrub, dwarfed by the weight of our troubles. I was pregnant with our second daughter when we planted it. We had just lost an unthinkable amount of money in a business venture. We had no idea how we would make it with a toddler and a baby. The dogwood tree peeks from behind us in the picture, and today it’s as if I hear it say:

“Keep your focus on God, Holbrook family! This too shall pass. Just as you’ll watch me grow and bloom, one day you’ll realize it – God was pruning your character, strengthening and preparing you for a new chapter, in which the sorrows of the long and restless night are but a shadow compared to the beauty and strength that He’ll bring forth. If only you trust and obey Him.”

Twelve years have passed since that Spring, a time when my husband and I had to chose not to lean on our own understanding, but tell our hearts to believe and trust our faithful God. Our dogwood bush grew into a beautiful, tall and strong tree.

Much like our faith.

As I write these words today, I can look out my office window and see my blooming tree, standing as a faithful reminder that my God has repeatedly breathed new life through my veins after each dreary winter of my soul. His faithfulness is everlasting. His love is overpowering.

He is faithful, Winter-Weary Soul. He is faithful! Your Spring shall come! Tell your fickle, hurting heart… to believe!

The post A Promise for the Winter-Weary Soul… appeared first on Soaring With Him Ministries.

I walked what seemed to be a mile on high heels, while crossing the bridge that links Emory Hospital to its parking garage. It was Sunday morning, and most visitors had not arrived yet. The hallways echoed with the sound of my shoes, and in my heart, a haunting sadness lingered.

Only 30 minutes earlier, I was sitting at my Sunday School class, waiting for the teacher to start the lesson, when a friend tapped on my shoulder:

“Did y’all pray for Joy?” she asked.

I gasped. My fears were confirmed.

I had not seen my sweet friend for a couple of weeks and had wondered if everything was OK. During our last conversation, Joy had shared that she was having trouble with the treatments, but I had not heard any updates. My friend explained that Joy had been admitted to the hospital, and the prognosis was bleak.

It seemed as if cancer was winning the war.

With a heavy heart and tears flowing down my face, I grabbed my purse and rushed to the car.

I had to see my friend.

Rain poured down my windshield as prayers poured out of my heart, all the way to the hospital. And the same gloominess that usually lingers through rainy, cloudy days, rested in my soul as I walked toward Joy’s room.

“Help me be an encouragement to her, Lord,” I prayed while reaching to the doorknob.

I opened the door to a room filled with people, pictures, balloons and flowers.

From her bed, Joy’s smile brightened the room.

I reached down to hug her, with a knot in my throat and lack of words. Joy, however, had something to say right away: “God is so, so good, Patricia!”

I looked into those beautiful blue eyes and knew it – these were not rehearsed words that every Christian is compelled to say in times of trouble.

That is my sweet friend Joy.

Amazing, beautiful, faithful Joy, seeing the glory of the Father through the rain. Looking at every minute of life as a priceless gift from above. Cherishing the memories and beauty of a life well lived. Feeling grateful for every bit of breath that is left in her lungs.

At the foot of her hospital bed, a colorful quilt hangs from the ceiling. Pictures of Joy with each one of her 12 grandchildren fill the beautiful cover. Her unforgettable smile beams from each picture, inviting us into the fulness of her life.

“God has given me four incredible years. It has been so much fun!”

I couldn’t speak. And believe me, if you know me, that is a feat in itself.

Joy’s faith and, yes – joy, incredible joy through life’s darkest hour – renders everyone speechless.

We come to encourage. We leave being encouraged beyond measure.

As I drove back to church, thanking God for my friend, selfishly begging him to let her stay a little longer, I realized that while missing that morning’s service, Joy had preached a sermon that I will never forget:

We all have trials. Some are only storms that will soon pass by. Others linger for years on end. Some rob us of our peace. Others claim the life of those we love.

But for those of us who know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that we are God’s children, we can face our trials with courage, and look at death for what it is: merely a portal to a much better life.

My friend Joy has lived up to the meaning of her name to the fullest. Even as the lights start to dim, and the curtains of her life threaten to come down for the final act, God’s light shines in and through her, brighter than ever before.

“It is well with my soul” is her song.

Look! It’s standing ovation, Joy. What beautiful faith! What a life!

This testimony of faith through life's darkest hour is worth sharing. You'll be blessed.
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This article was published on Patricia’s Column for The Atlanta Journal Constitution on April 29, 2017.

The post My Friend Joy – A Life Lesson {Atlanta Journal Constitution} appeared first on Soaring With Him Ministries.