Affliction. What a heavy word.

af·flic·tion/əˈflikSH(ə)n/noun

1. something that causes pain or suffering.

Affliction is so many different things to so many people. Addiction. An illness. A terminal illness. A hidden secret. A memory. Physical pain. Mental pain. Emotional pain. hardship. A setback. A feeling of discontent. Fear. Anxiety. Panic. Unease. A death. Hate. A diagnosis. A condition.

The list goes on.

We all have experienced them in varying sorts over our lives. But the thing we have in common is that we have to deal with them when they appear in our lives. People choose to deal with their afflictions differently. Some head-on. Some more discreetly. Some with reservation. Some with fear. Some with denial. Some with an open mind. Some with a closed mind. Some stubbornly. Some openly.

How we react to the afflictions in our lives shapes us. How we initially react. How we let it sink in. How we choose our plan of attack. How we choose to face it. How and if we let other people in to help us. How and if we let God in to help us.

Our mindset during this process can help us process through the pain.

We have been through some tough times as a little family. I for one, find comfort in my writing (Surprise!) so I have many of those things documented right here on my blog. Over the years, I have lost some pictures and videos I had posted as servers and apps came and went. But, my words are all there.

Our journey with Keith’s mom. The whole month of August was a whirlwind, but I found comfort in writing about it. My blog became the way our family kept up with the news during those few short weeks. All of us weren’t yet connected to Facebook yet. Here is the beginning of that journey back in August 2007. You can scroll down at the end of every entry and click the link on the bottom left side (Under “Tell me what you’re thinking”) to read through those weeks of our lives.

A few short months later when we lost my Uncle Matt.

Months later, we would get pregnant and lose the baby. That was a really dark time for me.

Then, let’s all remember the stress-induced infertility period we went through. (Man, I can laugh at these posts now… but I hated these days!)

Grandma’s death and her beautiful hands.

As I page through 13 years of posts, my blog certainly has carried me through some tough times. My childhood best friend’s cancer. A friend’s suicide. I was looking for posts about my father-in-law’s sudden passing, but I think everything for that crazy spring break week is on Facebook. It’s kind of amazing how technology has changed over these 13 blogging years!

I snapped this photo yesterday.

Here I am stuck in traffic looking at all the dingy black snow, the rising melting waters, there’s a line of cars behind me. My kids were bickering. I was stopped at a red light behind a l-o-n-g line of cars. Can you feel my mood? Let’s use this picture to represent the grungy snow in our lives… the deaths of our loved ones, a horrible disease, infertility, miscarriages, just everyday stuff that happens to all of us and causes us pain or suffering….. the afflictions.

Let’s try to lighten that mood a bit.

There. That’s prettier. Less focused on the grungy snow. Brighter sky. Bright sign showing the way to pedestrians. Amazing what a little “brightening” can do to our experiences when we have support around us. Love around us.

Let’s look even closer now.

What? There is God. (I know, not really God, but more a symbol of God.) There is our church. There is love. There is support from afflictions. There are the welcoming doors we have to welcome all of God’s people. There is a cross to show us how much God loved us.

All we had to do was brighten up and look a little deeper. God is there to help us through the times we feel are dark; the times we feel pain; even the times we feel joy. God is with us. We just have to be open to finding God.

PRAYER God our protector and redeemer, we run to you in our affliction. Calm our anxieties, soothe our hurts, bind up our broken hearts. Fill us with your mercy, grace, and love. Amen