Acceptance With Joy

One of my greatest difficulties throughout this journey has been watching everyone in my life move on while I have to stay stagnant. The frustration with myself I feel when I see all my friends posting photos of themselves having adventures, traveling, hiking, and heading off to college; it makes me so discontent! This is the case with even the bigger things like missing weddings, family events, letting my work down, and sometimes church events when my health won’t allow me to be there. It makes me feel anxious and so frustrated with my circumstances. I think to myself, “Why do I have to be here, sitting in this hospital bed, or this clinic in Mexico while everyone else is living my life, doing everything I planned to do?” These thoughts can be so consuming on a daily basis.

This was a daily struggle for me until I got a smack in the face from a friend when she told me, “McKennah, you need to be content where God has put you. This is such a unique experience where you can fully focus on your health. God has given you this time, without all the distractions, to get closer to Him, as well as share your faith with others!”

And it is true!!! Through all the things in life I may be missing out on, Christ has truly given me so much through this experience!

The best remedy for discontentment is Acceptance with Joy. What is acceptance with joy you may ask? Well I first heard the term while I was reading the book Hinds Feet On High Places.

This is the allegorical story of a woman’s journey with Christ, the Shepherd, as she shares the reality of how fear and doubt grips us in times of struggle. It also reveals that although a journey with Christ is the right path, it is not always the easy path. (I highly recommend this book if you haven't read it! It was one of my grandma Sarah's favorites and it has easily become one of my favorites that I reread constantly!) As she struggles with doubt and fear while she walks through yet another desert, she comes to a realization and says,

”He has brought me here when I did not want to come, for his own purpose. I too will look up into His face and say, “Behold me! I am your little handmaiden, named Acceptance with Joy.”

This passage inspired my heart. For I want to be a vessel for God to use to turn into something of great honor for Him! But, I was letting my discontentment of where God has placed me get in the way of that. This situation may not be ideal, or desired, but I am here! And I must accept that. And accept it with joy!!

This all seems rather familiar when we think about the story of the Apostle Paul in the Bible. God had called him to preach, to disciple believers, and to reach the Gentiles. But he was stuck in Rome, imprisoned by an unjust system, unable to plant new churches or visit those whom he was nurturing by letter. Surely, if anyone had a right to gripe, it was Paul, who’d endured persecution, shipwreck, and beatings for the gospel. Yet he never once complained. His letter to the church at Philippi is filled with rejoicing, as focusing on God let him live above his circumstances.

"Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Talk about acceptance with joy!! Man, that guy had it! But I truly believe it boils down to a deep appreciation of the salvation Christ has given us! As if living the life we should have lived and dying the death we should have died wasn't enough, Jesus Christ made us citizens of His heavenly kingdom. So even though we live in this world with all its difficulties, sorrows, and heartbreaks, a day is coming when Christ will return for his people and transform us so that we will be perfect reflections of Him.

"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed."

1 Corinthians 15:52

When I decided to place my own plans aside and truly embrace the journey that I am on now, is when God began to transform me into the person He has called me to be. I cannot begin to explain the reformation God has done in my heart through all of this! I genuinely believe God's plan to use this for good does not start at the healing aspect of it (although healing will come); it starts now. Because of all my health issues, I had to put my entire life on hold. It was as if God put a screeching halt to all of my plans, picked me up, and practically placed me in ANTARCTICA. Being placed in "Antarctica" is like everything you've ever known about life changes. Your entire thought process, lifestyle, life plans, etc. Every habit and way you have learned to process life must change. But I would not trade any of that for what I have now. I may have cancer, but I also have a closer relationship with God, revelation that I never would've had, personal growth and maturity, and an outlet to help others who are going through similar things. I thank God for the experience that cancer has brought me! It has been such a blessing and I would not trade it for the whole world!

So for now, I just may have to put some things on the back burner in order to focus on this road that He has me on now! It is still a daily struggle for me, but the more I find Acceptance with Joy, the more opportunities I’ve had to let God use me!

I'll leave you with one last quote:

“When I cannot understand my Father’s leading,

And it seems to be but hard and cruel fate,

Still I hear that gentle whisper ever pleading,

God is working, God is faithful, ONLY WAIT.”