a beautiful thread of hope, peace and joy permeated throughout tiff’s story today. she specifically used those three words at the beginning of her life’s story and it challenged me to find those words throughout, while she spoke. i wish you could have been there. me trying to type it all out just feels like it will certainly fall flat. if you don’t know her, you will want to go find her and follow her, buy her book still and wait for what she’s got coming next. whenever that may be, because she is always working on new words to share. it’s what she does. she had hope during the beginning drive to the hospital when her son was sick. the words in her bible stood out to her and she has since then continued to cling to that same hope. she had peace when she told her son he did not have to keep fighting any longer. not for her, not to stay earth-side. she had peace. and when she looked at her family, she had immense joy. she has challenged me in many beautiful ways since i have had the privilege of getting to know her and calling her “friend”, but i received another new piece of gold to hold on to and carry into my own life from here on out. find the hope, peace, and joy in all and every of my circumstances. God may not answer my prayer in the way i expected or asked for, just like he didn’t answer tiff’s prayer in the way she thought. but she could still look and see hope, peace, and joy. and when we look for that in our Lord and Savior, we can survive even the very worst things imaginable.
-bb