Learning to Dance in the Rain

Please check out my good friend Andy Person's website: caringbridge.org/visit/dottieperson; and go to the journal entry section. Andy lost his wife Dottie about year and 1/2 ago to cancer, they had five children together. Their faith and hope and even joy in suffering has been an incredible gift to me personally. Andy spoke last week at Temple University and two things from the talk struck me in a big way.

1.) Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, its about learning to dance in the rain! The most moving thing for me, is the lived Faith in this quote, and Dottie Person and now Andy have lived this. In their actions and attitude, they tell the whole world the truth, that God is Good all the time! That He is working in us personally and in the world, even when life doesn't make sense.

St. Teresa the Little Flower said it best and actually summed up what this family has lived over the past 3 years, "Everything is a grace, everything is the direct effect of our Father's love - difficulties, contradictions, humiliations, all the soul's miseries, her burdens, her needs - everything, because through them, she learns humility, realizes her weakness. Everything is a grace because everything is God's gift. Whatever be the character of life or its unexpected events - to the heart that loves, all is well."- Never allowing our suffering to crush us, but allowing it to help us grow in humility and trust in God.

Finally, the part of Andy's talk that really raised me up, was a 10 minute video of us wife Dottie, right before her death. The trust and confidence in God was nothing short of supernatural. She actaully said at one point, "I am happy, I mean really happy, like zip a de do da happy," I loved it. Faith is effective and alive all the time! With Christ we have nothing to fear, here was a women with literally everything to fear! But she lived her Faith in an abandonment to a God that loved her.

As I left the talk on Thursday night something important dawned on me, "What's the alternative" to the choas we see in the world. We can either live in discouragement and fear (Which for some people like Dottie and Andy would be justified, that's what makes their witness so powerful) or we can live in gratitude and Faith, which makes life more agreeable for everyone, and makes us happier.

Dottie Person, pray for us to live your Gratitude for God's Gifts!