Sweeter After Difficulties – Dulcius Ex Asperis
(2 minutes, 58 seconds -A personal testimony)

I used to love running. On peaceful country roads all over the mid-west, I de-stressed as I prayed, sang, and solved oh-so-many problems. Then suddenly,  I couldn’t run. Snatched from me ten years ago were running and several other types of exercise that I enjoyed immensely. It was a significant loss for me.
But then it got much worse. A large chunk of the last ten years was excessively pain-filled for me. During the worst of it, for two entire years, I couldn’t walk or stand for more than a few minutes without searing, off-the-charts pain. 

“Difficulty upon difficulty,” the apostle Paul says when he recalls his severe suffering. Though I’ve never been shipwrecked or bitten by a venomous snake, I have certainly been through my own tough season of difficulty:
-A surgery where more than 50 fragmented pieces of hip cartilage were removed 10 summers ago.
-That surgery was followed by a necessary total hip replacement that was “massively botched” (to put it mildly) nine years ago.
-That botched surgery led to a huge deal of hip revision surgery at Mayo Clinic six years ago.
-Three MORE surgeries, all on my ankles, came next.

That totals six orthopedic surgeries in seven years, each surgery with varying intensity of recovery. There also were copious, innumerable, exhaustive rehab and PT appointments throughout these years. And pain, unspeakable pain. In addition, we moved FIVE times during five of those years! Frankly, it was a rough ride!

I’ve said it with confidence a hundred times: I believe with all my heart that Jesus could have supernaturally glued all of my cartilage pieces back together in the first place. He could also have kept my total hip surgery from going absolutely south. Throughout the drama, He could have even spared my lower spine, butt muscles, and ankles. But sovereignly, He didn’t. In His love for me, He took me through multiple orthopedic fires this last decade. The Lord is the One who chooses and measures out our particular suffering and the degrees of it. In His wisdom and love, God can choose to heal us spontaneously, “as we go,” or seemingly not at all this side of glory.

I have stood on the top of triathlon podiums, run through several marathon finishes, and celebrated 100-mile bike rides. Last month, however, in September 2023, I tasted one of my life’s sweetest physical victories. I completed an epic and extraordinary Boundary Waters adventure. 
Along with marveling over trumpeter swans, loons, and beavers, I learned the delightful and distinct call of the Barred Owl, who hoots, “Who cooks for you?” It makes me smile to type that! I sat in stunned silence over utter silence, miles and miles from cell phone coverage, automotive exhaust, and grocery stores. This trip was awe-inspiring, and I hope never to forget the delights and joys of the week immersed in God’s creation. 
As incredible as all of that was, what still makes my heart pitter with overwhelming joy a month later is the distance I went. I went the distance, Rocky! Over five days, amid the vast million acres of the breathtaking beauty of the waters that lie between the US and Canada, I and six other kindred female adventurers paddled and hiked 30 miles through:

10 lakes, 4 rivers, 16 portages, and 18 beaver dams!
I, who remember vividly what it felt like to be crippled in pain and unable to limp farther than one block, completed all of this!

Dulcius Ex Asperis is a Latin phrase that means “sweeter after difficulties.” It’s entirely true. My epic-for-me experience in the Boundary Waters was sweeter than any other of my previous walks, runs, and races. Sweeter, SO much sweeter, because of the difficulty-upon-difficulty that the Lord has brought me through this past decade.

My 5x surgically reconstructed ankles, 3x operated right titanium hip with its generous handful of screws that keep me fastened together, plus my still not-quite-right and still-hurting hip musculature, shredded in the massively botched surgery, hiked over 16 rocky, rooty, muddy portages and CARRIED a 45 # canoe overhead for 15 of those portages!! 
As in Mark 5:19, I just needed to tell what Jesus has done for me! I especially want to tell my dear and faithful friends of the last decade who walked parts or all of this road with me. I promise you, I still recall with thankfulness even the tiniest gestures of kindness and compassion. Thank you again with all of my grateful heart!!

Our suffering and weaknesses are worthy of recollection because, in their wake, there is a magnified opportunity to see God’s strength on display and His glory revealed in our lives.

The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. 
Celebrate and glorify God with me: last month, He gave back to me again! He gave me last month’s adventure in all its epic glory. It was a sweet gift from Him to my heart and body. With a canoe overhead and my shoulders burning, tears were spilling as I completed my last portage to the parking lot, not because of pain but because of the sweetness of the victory after so much difficulty.
Dulcius Ex Asperis.