A Journey from Surviving to Thriving

There’s an old idiom that states, “Every cloud has a silver lining.”   What does that mean?   What does that look like? Or more to the point for me personally, does the cloud of this Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) medical journey have a silver lining and, if so, what is that like and can I praise God in the midst of that cloud because of the silver lining?   These are the questions we want to explore here in this particular post.   Oxford Languages provides the following description for this particular idiom : “E very difficult or sad situation has a comforting or more hopeful aspect, even though this may not be immediately apparent.”  So to ask the question before us in a different way, what are the “comforting and more hopeful” elements of the silver lining around this IPF cloud that enable me to thrive in the midst of the suffering inherent in this cloud? What Does God Say About Suffering? First, let’s take a close look at what God says about sufferin...

A friend recently commented — “Don, I wonder sometimes if “chaos” adequately describes what you and Marilyn are facing (referring to the subtitle of this blog, 'Experiencing the fulfilled Life in the Midst of Chaos') — or whether it’s more like ‘living in the eye of the storm.’”  That was a new thought to me and I had to spend some time pondering on it.  And since then I’ve had fun working through this question. Actually processing this comment from my friend has been quite therapeutic as in doing so I could see more clearly God’s hand on us during the present medical journey. What is Chaos? Not being totally sure of the official definition of “chaos,” I turned to Webster who defines “chaos” as “the state of complete disorder and confusion.”  Personally, I’d simply call it floundering in life — living without purpose that would otherwise bring life and light to one’s pathway.  It’s about  living without direction, and as a result, being torn in many different...

Our daughter recently asked: “Dad, do you realize how many miracles God has done for you from 2016 until now?” Obviously there’s a backstory to that question.  She knew that I was diagnosed with the physically incurable disease called Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) in 2011, and at that time the medical community gave a prognosis for longevity of three to five years after diagnosis.  By that standard I should have Iived only to 2016.  We had been discussing what a miracle might look like having my lungs completely restored by God, when she wisely observed the fact that there have already been many “miracles” given to us by God since 2016 until now (mid 2023) — phenomenal blessings that I would not have enjoyed had the medical prognosis been correct. That got me thinking — and REMEMBERING! Now the fact that one can be rejuvenated and encouraged by recalling good things of the past is probably not a new insight to anyone.  But I still have the sense that explor...