Category: Dear Joyce

There are times when we may think that God is not giving us what we need. But how could the God who loves us so much deprive us of anything good? How could the God who gave us His only begotten Son withhold His generosity from us? Whenever we think that God is withholding something good from us, He is only being far more generous than we could ever imagine Him to be!

The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
    a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
    he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing
as on a day of festival.
I will remove disaster from you,
    so that you will not bear reproach for it.
 I will deal with all your oppressors
    at that time.
And I will save the lame
    and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
    and renown in all the earth.
At that time I will bring you home,
    at the time when I gather you;
for I will make you renowned and praised
    among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
    before your eyes, says the Lord.
-ZEPHANIAH 3:17-20

 

LETTER TO JOYCE

My problem has gone on since 1992 and has gotten worst instead of better. I have been battling one chronic illness followed by another. The illnesses have placed quite a few limitations on my life and this is beginning to take a toll on me. I am a chronic asthmatic and I also have mixed connective tissue disease which is symptoms of RA and lupus. I also have fibromyalgia and generalized arthritis. In December, I was diagnosed with Sella empty syndrome which is excessive fluid that builds up in your brain and flattens your pituitary gland and the portion of the skull that covers it. I underwent surgery on February 21 and am having compilations related to the surgery. I know that God is with me because without him, I sincerely believe that I would not be typing this request for prayer and for a listening and understanding ear. Sometimes I am so overwhelmed with my health issues that it has caused me to deal with depression and anxiety at times.

I refuse to let these illnesses control my life because I know that God has greater things planned for me. I just need to weather the storm and keep my eyes on the prize – eternal life with my Lord and Savior. Please pray for me so that I will start utilizing my God given talents. To let go of my fears and self doubt and let the Lord guide me. I am single without children and I feel the loneliness more and more. I am praying for God to send me a companion that understands what I am going through and accepts me for me. Please pray that I always keep God first in my life and always remember that I can lean on him no matter what. I need a push to motivate me to make the best of each and every day because God did not have to choose me to marvel at his creations. And by doing this I know that he is not done with me yet, even when I want to be done with me sometimes. I need to be strengthen sometimes, motivated sometimes, feel loved sometimes, feel like I have something worthwhile to contribute sometimes and most of all have God to create in me a pure heart and renew my spirit all of the times. Please pray for. Thanks for your help.

From Joyce

RESPONSE FROM JOYCE

Dear Joyce,

Thank you for writing, Joyce! I can see that we have the same name. Your letter has inspired me today, because I felt I’ve just met a person who has a strong faith despite all the trials she is going through.

I have prayed for you, and I pray for all that’s best in your life, but most of all, that you would always have faith in the God who strengthens you and loves you.

There are times when we may not feel that love, but that doesn’t mean we are not embraced in His great love. We always are closer to the love and mercy of God than we could ever imagine.

Joyce, I am also a single person as you are. And I can very well relate to the loneliness one could feel from time to time. How good it is to have someone to be there for you and to support you, especially in trying times. My comfort is in knowing that whatever God withholds, He provides in a far more generous way. If there is no person yet to be that channel of His love for me, that could only mean that He is already providing that love in another way, in a greater way.

I remember how one Valentine’s Day, I asked God to give me even a single rose, for I knew there was nobody else who could give me that. You know what? What He gave was far more than that single flower that I longed for! You can read more about it in my previous article WHEN I ASKED FOR A ROSE.

Let us continue to hope in prayer that God may continue to send His love in the most blessed ways, through people who will support us, and through His ways direct and mysterious that will take our breath away!

With Love,
Joyce

Hold on until the answer comes, because the Light shines just when you thought you have lost all things into darkness.

There are times when we cannot see anything that could possibly help us and give meaning to our lives. Such times however are not the times to give up hope because we may only be a minute away from being saved in the most unexpected and unimaginable way. Today’s letter is about trying to find that hope just when all things seem to be lost.

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you till it seems you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

LETTER TO JOYCE

Hello Joyce my world is falling apart bit by bit, I lost both my parents in 2009 within months of each other. I then lost my brother I was closest with in 2010 to brain cancer and the person I needed the most, my husband walked out on me shortly after. I have lost a great paying job due to panic attacks and depression and I am now losing my home that I worked so hard for I feel so alone and empty. I cry by myself, at night in the dark as I look around at a house that I’m losing and all I am losing. I have 4 girls and one son, who had dreams if the army only to be told a recent diagnosis of Iga nephropathy a degenerative kidney disease, he’s only 16 and its killing me, everything is killing me…

From Shelley

RESPONSE FROM JOYCE:

Dear Shelley,

Thank you for writing and sharing your pain. It’s not an easy thing to do. I have prayed for you, and I’m sorry that I have not been able to reply sooner. I have just recently lost a very important person in my life and I had to be away for a while to grieve and take care of a lot of things.

It’s never an easy matter when we lose a person who is very dear to us. Their passing away leaves us with a vacuum that could never really be filled. We miss their presence. And we grieve the fact that we could never love them again like the way we did before.

For me, the only consolation is that the person I love is now in a far better place where there shall be no more grief or pain.

For us however who are left behind, we cherish the memories they left us, and we keep the love we shared.

“What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.”-Helen Keller

We may have lost the physical presence of our loved ones, but what they have left us has forever enriched our lives, the love they gave us, we shall forever keep.

Shelley, during these dark times, I hope that you find strength in the love of the people who became a part of your life. If they could only talk to you right now, I’m almost certain that they would want you to go on and to stay strong. They would want you to take whatever little hope you’ve got, because sometimes, all we need is to hang on for a minute longer until we see the light that we desire.

In times when you don’t know how to carry on, you can try to talk to them in prayer, and ask them to lift up your prayer to God. Maybe you feel His silence right now. But His silence does not mean that He doesn’t care and that He isn’t watching. He is watching over you right now and is already sending His help. We may not see it, but in His time, we will know how He has supported us all the way.

Cry out your hurts to God. Ask Him everything you wanted to know. Ask Him to help you, and then hold on until the answer comes, as it certainly will.

You may feel a lot of loss in your life, you may ache with a lot of wounds. Sometimes however, these wounds are the very places by which the light of God’s healing could enter into our hearts. When it comes, let in, and let it heal you… all of your aches and pain.

You still have your children. Pray for their protection. Pray for their healing. Pray for a far more meaningful and beautiful life ahead of you. Hold on to what little you think you have left, for all is not yet lost. Sometimes, all we need is a single seed buried deep into the ground so it can bear hundreds of fruit in due time.

God bless you, Shelley! I send you my love and prayers.

With Love,
Joyce

Related Articles:

When You Grieve the Loss of a Loved One
Poem on Grieving
Begin Again
When You’re Too Tired to Hope

When your strength fails, I will be your strength.
When your faith fails, I will be your faith.
When even your love fails, my love will be enough.
I’m not letting you go,
I’m giving you space and time to heal,
I’m giving me the space and time
to be strong enough for the both of us.

Relationships are blessings because they give us the people who will love us and whom we shall also love in return. But what if a time comes when we’re the only ones left who are capable of giving love? In today’s letter, we read about someone who needs to be strong enough in order to do what’s best not only for herself but also for the one she loves.

Continue reading “When Your Love Fails, My Love Will Be Enough”

Too many relationships have been broken all because we have let pride get in the way of letting the other person know how much they really matter to us.

No, I will not apologize. I will not apologize if I were perfect and I don’t make mistakes. But since I am imperfect and I fail to love you as I ought, I will say I’m sorry. I will never let pride get in the way. Your love is more important to me. And saying sorry is far easier than letting you go.

How many times have we failed to save a relationship all because we have let pride get in the way? In today’s letter, we find a difficult struggle in times when we need to apologize so we can keep the people we value the most.

Continue reading “When Saying Sorry is Easier than Letting You Go”