Embracing Joy in the Pain
How? How can you experience joy when you feel like there is absolutely no reason to hold out hope for your marriage? When you’re struggling in misery, and it seems you’re trapped in a cycle of hurt and injury that creates more hurt and injury?
That’s exactly where we were for the first fifteen years of our marriage.
LeRoy and I have learned, though, that joy can be found in the most horrific of seasons.
There is an uncanny and even indescribable joy in the presence of Christ. Literally. Meeting with Him daily, in the pain, in the suffering—whether that suffering comes from the misery caused by a dysfunctional marriage relationship, or from the misery of long-term illness—joy can be experienced in the midst of the mess.
We’ve found that these words from the Psalmist hold true:
“You reveal the path of life to me; in Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures.” (Psalm 16:11)
And that is why James can urge his readers to embrace joy—even while enduring persecution for their faith:
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds . . .” (James 1:2)
With the trial comes the opportunity to seek the Lord’s protection, to turn to Him for refuge, to trust Him as never before. And as He is faithful to pour out His grace and be our stronghold—that is where we find joy.
Joy that is real, lasting, deep, abiding, and abundant, can actually occur when walking through trials.
Today, LeRoy and I are in a much different season of pain than when we were hopeless and miserable in our marriage. I told someone the other day, “I can’t imagine, if God had not brought healing to our relationship, how our marriage could’ve survived these years of LeRoy’s illness.
It seems a very long time ago that LeRoy and I sat down with Jim Daly and John Fuller for the first time to share our story at Focus on the Family. Things look much different today than they did then. But, just as God reached down to meet with us in our pain during that season, He is meeting with us today in the pain of this season. And there is much joy in abiding in His abundant presence.
If you’d like to listen to that Focus on the Family broadcast that was originally aired in 2015, you can hear the first part today and the conclusion tomorrow. I encourage you to share the link with loved ones who may have given up hope for their marriage!
You can listen to the audio stream here:
Also, you can watch portions of our 2017 program with Focus on their YouTube channel, or download their app.
Click here to find their video version of our interview with them Loving and Leading Your Strong Woman from 2017.
read moreWelcome
Welcome! I’m glad you’re spending a few moments with me here. It is astounding to think that in this small corner of the blogger world, women from across the globe can experience the adventure of growing together in Christ. I never planned to grow up and be a blogger but writing blogs allows me to disciple more women than I would ever have opportunity to actually meet.
My reason for writing is that I have to. This driving impulse to communicate God’s reality and goodness to others is like a burning fire. Because of who He is, the desire for others to know and love Him consumes me. He is my passion and I don’t want to waste a single day, but cram each moment full of living all out for His glory. I long for the day when all will know that He alone is God.
About Kim
Kimberly Wagner is married to her favorite pastor, LeRoy Wagner. Their children include Caleb and his wife Lindsey; Rachel and her husband Adam, and their daughter Teagan.
Kim’s passion is Christ, and she desires to ignite women’s pursuit of God’s glory. She is a frequent guest on the Revive Our Hearts radio program, as well as a regular contributor to the True Woman blog and the Beyond BathTime blog. Kim has written several devotionals and resource materials for women and loves encouraging women to become students of the Word.
True Woman
A dream was realized when I attended the first True Woman Conference in 2008. I’ll never forget looking around at thousands of women, freely worshipping God together, embracing their calling as women, and thinking, He’s doing it, He is birthing this movement!
In the late 1990s my friend, Nancy Leigh DeMoss, gave me two books that made a significant impact on my life. True Woman by Susan Hunt and The Feminist Gospel (later revised and entitled The Feminist Mistake) by Mary Kassian. My eyes were opened to how the feminist philosophy has permeated our culture and what a loss we’ve experienced as a result.
Read moreSharing my heart with you…
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