I see that Greg has been keeping you up-to-date on our progress/lack of progress over here. It’s been a solid month of exhaustion, weight loss, and nausea and vomiting due to pregnancy—or hyperemesis. For weeks now, I’ve stayed motionless in bed with a Glad 6-quart plastic container as my companion. Two people reminded me about blood clots, and I’m grateful for the advice. This week I’ve upgraded to a sort of morning sickness—which just means that I feel nauseous and useless 24/7. This is very good progress.

Greg looks on the bright side of everything, which is why one of us in this marriage has to be the realist. The truth is, I don’t have that pregnancy glow. My skin is not radiating, and my hair is not shiny. Instead, my hair is a matted, greased down ponytail and my lips are cracked. I could play a junkie on TV and not need makeup or a change of clothes. I am prone to count my daily vomiting sessions, not my blessings.

Yet God’s glory is sometimes seen best in our weakness, ironically. God’s nod on my life happens not when I achieve personal peace and affluence, but when I am faithful and obedient to the task He’s set before me—however hard it is. God calls us to do hard things. James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the man who perseveres…”

The nuts and bolts of our faith is lived out in the dailyness of life. Sometimes we’re prone to believe that Sundays (except for that last one in January) are for Jesus; the rest of the week is for—you know—other stuff. But in reality, we need, live, and ask for faith everyday.

We are to live for His glory—to make Him look good—every single day of the week. Christian marriage, living, and faith stands or falls during these in-between times, often when nobody is watching on except the children. And boy, they are watching.

We shouldn’t be surprised by trials. If we are sick, we should drink Gatorade and pray for healing (James 5). Sometimes God’s answer for deliverance is yes, and sometimes the answer is no. But in praying for relief, we should also pray for faith. The faith to believe that God cares for His people and their lowly state, just as He does the sparrow. The faith to agree all the time (not just when death is preferable to our suffering) that to live is Christ and to die is gain. The faith to “consider it pure joy” (James 1:2) when our faith is matured.

If you would’ve asked me two months ago if we could “handle” a circumstance like this—even as small, really, as this one– I would’ve said “no.” What would we do with the one-year-old who is walking and loves to climb stairs? He is busy, busy, busy. How could we manage his safety when Greg has to work and I am not there? But as it happened, God would send tangible help and encouragement when it was needed and not a second before that.