Oh the good of grief!

 I say "Oh good grief!" alot.

Which got me to thinking what a contradictory term it was.  Is there ever any good in grief?  And where did the term originate anyway?  Yes to the first part and who knows to the second.  But lets talk a little about faith, which, surprisingly, will answer the good in grief.

Believe it or not, we are still doing RV traveling, and out of the last 15 months (being home maybe a total of 3 months) we have seen and experienced amazing, crazy, fun, sad, moving, educational, and unbelievable things.  And they have all taught us to grow in obedience toward the Christian life.
 
The result has been joy.  Not at first.  My fight or flight response is to kick and scream.  Loudly.  Ask my parents.  I was a foot-stomper.

So once I stopped, since it didn't seem to be doing much good, except waste alot of energy, I turned my efforts toward listening.  Alot.  And I thought I'd give a try to what I was hearing.  That's the obedience part.  AKA, faith.  (Faith comes by hearing... Romans 10:17)

Romans 10 is talking about giving the Gentiles the riches God had offered the Jews.  Riches that offer abundant and eternal life.  But verse 21 says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people."

Faith requires action.  If faith seems a little fuzzy to you, beyond your understanding, then understand this:  faith is the same thing as obedience.  A faithful person is the one who acts on what they read from the Bible.

 James 2:18 "But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”  Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds." (emphasis mine.)

So guess what?  There is good in grief.  Grief in the sense of obeying even when it hurts.  That type of action matures a Christian like nobodies business!! 

Somehow we have managed to stay sane, still find time to homeschool (much to our kid's chagrin), continue ministry work, and make/sell jewelry, all while living and traveling in 200 sq ft of space. (Obedience...)  :-)
I will include a few photos of our travels as soon as we get to an area with high speed internet.  Meanwhile, I'll see if I can put a few up on Facebook.