Life is Hard, but God is Good

We may not have been long on stories this week, but we feel the ones we do have packed a pretty funny punch. Enjoy podcast Tuesday!

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Back in my college days, I was a bit of a music groupie. One of my roommates was in Chorale, and I would go listen to them sing anytime they did a concert within a decent distance. There were also smaller music groups that traveled for the school, and I often tried to catch their concerts too. (Nerd!) 

One of the groups sang a song called Life is Hard, But God is Good. It was a hit back in the 90s, and if you check out this music video, you'll also get to appreciate the aura of the 90s! The girl in the group who carried the solo on this song went on to marry one of the guys in the group and they have four kids now. Several years ago, their oldest was involved in an accident with a lawn mower and had his leg amputated. As I read the (horrific) story of the events of that night, the first thing that came to mind was that song. Life is Hard, but God is Good. It didn't feel ironic to me that this boy's mom and dad memorized those words and sang them over and over again as they traveled in ministry.

When I emailed them to let them know I was praying, I mentioned the song, and they thanked me for reminding them of it. The lyrics were important in that season, and they needed the reminder.

The song popped into my mind again this week as Ryan and I talked about our year so far. He said, "This has been, by far, our hardest year." I told him that I distinctly remember when I made the recap scrapbook of our first five years of marriage, that year two was the hardest. The double commuting, the exhaustion, difficult relationships (not ours...but with others) - all of it made that year the hardest one. And now in the second five years, it's year seven that is hard. Must be an every-five-years-thing, right?

Losing Ryan's mom was hard, yes, but it's been all the unpredictability, the on-the-go, and the general chaos that has made this year perpetually tough. Every time we make plans, they change. Something of an emergency comes up, and we have to be flexible. 

Today marks our 79th monthiversary, and so far, I think every monthiversary this year (except one) has been chaotic in the same way that today is chaotic. 

But I find that a beautiful picture of this story we share.

This has been the hardest year, but even in the chaos, we get to live it together, and that is a gift. Every monthiversary has been interrupted - much like this entire year has been. Yet even in the interruptions, we are adamant about finding something to represent a celebration of our life together. It may be a cup of coffee on the run, but we make sure it happens. 

It's a lesson I didn't learn well back in my single days. Hard days made me pine for marriage and declare that everything would be so much better and so much easier if I just had someone by my side. And while I have found that to be accurate now that it's my reality, I will say that if I had looked a little deeper, I think I could have found something to be thankful for in those pre-marriage hard days. The Lord was good to surround me with supportive friends, family, co-workers, and other blessings that reminded me of His goodness when life was hard. I didn't always open my eyes to see it, but He still did it! 

I'm thankful for these 79 months. I'm thankful that even in this hard year, we've had a lot of joy. A lot of laughter. A lot of memories to cling to. Life is hard - but God is good. And that's true no matter your marital status!