So, our family is in the middle of celebration season as we have and will be celebrating some of our children’s birthdays and adoption days. We will also be eating lots of cake :).
Whilst celebrations involve happiness and joy, life in all of its busyness and stress doesn’t stop because we have a birthday (although it would be nice if it did).
I have reached a place in life where I am content and at peace with the reality that celebration and stress are parts of life that will often exist together.
Recently we had planned a family day out to ‘Dinosaur Adventure’ in Norfolk to celebrate a birthday (yes, there was cake!) and we were really looking forward to it. The day before our Jurassic adventure, we received some surprising and disappointing news regarding the possible school place for our daughter for next year. This has led to us having to do a lot of work gathering evidence to submit to a meeting which is happening at some point on Tuesday (please pray). Our day of celebration was overshadowed by this disappointment and then we woke up on the day and checked the weather and it was forecast to rain heavily all day (no, it doesn’t rain in England all the time).
Despite this, we decided to press ahead with the day out (which was mainly outdoors!) and we had an amazing day with very little rain. The park was pretty empty (all the sensible people were afraid to come out in the rain) and so our children enjoyed playing together without having to wait for anything.
Instead of assuming that the day would be a massive flop, we decided to embrace life and make the best of it. We didn’t let the stress and disappointment put us off from celebrating and the result was that we had one of the best family days that we have had for some time.
This week, I will have times of celebration (hopefully following the meeting on Tuesday!) and times of stress (hopefully not following the meeting on Tuesday!), but in it all I want to live well.
Knowing that God is with me makes a huge difference! God wants to celebrate and enjoy life with us but he also wants to share with and bring healing, support and strength in our stress and pain.
Will we live well and include God in our journey through life or will we choose to walk alone?
After my disappointing news last week, I was praying and I was really encouraged as I remembered that God is The God Who Opens Doors.
If you want to read some more about God meeting us in the stresses of life, then try Peace at last? If you would like to think more about what there is to celebrate in life then try What do you celebrate when there is nothing to celebrate?
Honest about my faith 