Joyless or Joyful

The goodness of God is real. So let’s talk about it.

The year 2022 started out rough for my family. On January 31st, I dropped my husband off at the local hospital due to the virus. Visitors were still not allowed at the time. He was later transferred to a larger hospital and began to decline rapidly.

A few days later, he was placed on a ventilator and remained on it until Valentine’s Day. I had to rely heavily on communication from hospital staff while advocating for his care from the outside.

Saying I had rock-solid prayer warriors during that season feels like an understatement. They carried us through. Church members, people from our community, coworkers, and family showed up and poured into us. They kept us grounded and covered in prayer.

There were days I honestly didn’t know if he was going to make it. Yet somehow, I had a peace that didn’t make sense. Joe and I even had conversations about death. Our son was seven at the time, and one evening he told me that if his daddy died, he knew he would be okay—because he would be in Heaven. The faith of a child will wreck you in the best way.

Our pastor, who was walking through similar circumstances with his father-in-law, ministered to our family from Georgia. Even from a distance, he stayed on the job—praying for us and over us.

Over the past few years, Joe has struggled with the lasting effects of the virus. We both have a dark sense of humor about the whole experience and about life in general. Most people don’t get it, but we handle things with grace and sarcasm. Lots of sarcasm.

During the recent ice storm, Joe fell—hard. He wiped out in the driveway while carrying the trash can. He was clutching his chest and in serious pain, but he refused medical attention. Why? Because he’s a man… and stubborn.

Today, he came home from work and finally admitted he couldn’t take the pain anymore. Turns out, he’s the proud owner of a cracked sternum, with a side of bronchial pneumonia and low oxygen levels. He was admitted to the hospital a full week later. Better late than never, right? His lungs have been garbage since the virus.

Once again, the prayer warriors were rallied. And once again, I found a peace that can’t be explained.

You may not see the goodness of God when you’re in the fire. It’s often invisible in the chaos of life. But when you surround yourself with others in the Body of Christ, you experience His goodness flowing through people. Sometimes God’s hands look like other believers.

We, as Christians, are called to gather and pray together. We are called to speak the specifics of our needs—even though God already knows them. He wants us to bring them to Him.

“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
—Matthew 18:19–20

Don’t be embarrassed to ask for prayer. Let others intercede for you in the darkest moments. And don’t forget to ask for prayer in the good times too.

The God on the mountain is still God in the valley.