For Those Who Know Suffering

Please don't forget that joy still exists.

It isn’t even Lent yet, but I’m beginning to thread together some thoughts. Thoughts about a Creator, a father, and a mother witnessing their child literally walk into battle. A battle for souls. A battle that would produce so much suffering.

As a special needs parent, I witness suffering. When the weather quickly shifts and her sensory system is overloaded with messages she cannot manage. When demands cannot be met in a timely manner. When change happens - as it always does, without pause for her to integrate, process, or respond.

Motherhood itself has led me into the trenches with a child who lost eye contact at two. I remember the day she flung herself down upon the hottest asphalt (it was summer in Arizona) and refused to let me pick her up. It was hard enough to manage these moments with pre-existing frailties in my spine… but she was somehow both rigid and limp at the same time. The sun had penetrated every layer of her coping coat and she was done. Fried.

We got home and I handed Scott our crisped child (somehow left mostly-unscathed though differently colored). I walked into the other room and stoically called the Birth to Three hotline…

I’ll share the rest of the story throughout the coming weeks, loves.

Right now, I just want you to know that if you know suffering - you are seen.

Resurrection Sunday happened.

It happened and joy reigned once more.

And, I’m willing to bet chaos persisted too.

That some of Christ’s most reverent followers celebrated the Rising and yet, still suffered. Maybe their loved one didn’t rise from the dead. Perhaps they were still being persecuted. I mean, Mary Magdalene wasn’t suddenly allowed to preach! And Mother Mary… I can’t imagine her sorrows were alleviated by her son’s return. He didn’t end his ministry to come home and spend time at her table. He came with work to do and then left… again.

Joy and suffering coexist.

Always.

When I wrote Bliss & Blue in 2015, I had no idea that God was using it to show me this in our real, raw life. The complete story came to me at midnight on my yoga mat; the only safe space and time I could find to practice and pray in solitude.

It came, and it wouldn’t let me go.

Bliss & Blue is available on sale (finally) in two weeks, dearest friends!

Joy and suffering coexist.

Bliss & Blue is a glimpse into one of the brightest lights we found in one particular season suffering.

A season of sleepless nights and train-wrecked days and all the therapies. With a mother who fell on her knees in hopes of answered prayers only to find some of them had already come in the form of a bunny… a bunny named Blue.

I’m so thankful to have Bliss & Blue launch just prior to Easter, friends. Whether you celebrate the return of Christ or the return of spring - or both! - I believe this book will speak to you of joy existing always. Always, always.

I love you and I’m so thankful to be here with you!

So Much Love,

Jennifer

Jennifer Magnano

jennifermagnano.com