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Choosing Joy

Updated: Feb 20, 2023

I shared previously in my "Hard Places" series about my daughter, Alyssa, and her struggle with infertility. She recently posted on social media and I thought I would share.


To give you a background...she and her husband, Levi, have been married for almost 6 years. He suffers from a neck injury which has caused a pituitary tumor and extreme headaches for most of 2019. He has most recently suffered vision loss which is so very scary. As if this is hard enough, they continue the heart breaking journey for the 5th year of infertility.


In her words:

"I surprised Levi yesterday with a flocked tree we’ve been wanting since forever 🎉 With his health and eyesight the way it is right now, I figured we probably wouldn’t make it to the tree farm this year so... fake tree it is! 🎄 And he made me take a pic cause he was proud I did it all by myself and stuff 😂💪
Last year, we got our tree like two weeks before Christmas and it was super depressing. We just didn’t have the holiday spirit in us, with infertility weighing our hearts down on top of Levi’s tumor flaring up. (I have to laugh because I thought 2019 was going to be OUR YEAR. But it wasn’t. It was actually was worse. Like way worse.😂🤷🏼‍♀️😭) But through it all, we allowed God to have His way and leaned into Him even as hell seemed to continuously unfold in our lives these past 11 months.
Of course there are days when I question it all and let doubt cloud my mind, but I KNOW we wouldn’t have made it this far without our unwavering faith and trust that the Lord really does have it all in His hands.
So this Christmas, even though we are beyond weary and quite frankly unsure when this season of “trials” will end, we are choosing joy. Choosing to live life when we have every right to just hide and wait for the storm to pass. And that means getting into the holiday spirit ASAP 🎄🎄🎄💃💃💃" - Alyssa Ringo

My heart right here…Alyssa and Levi

Point them to Jesus


I hate being "That Mom" who is unable to "fix it" for my kids. The pain and utter helplessness in situations like these is so frustrating. Watching Alyssa and Levi in such hardship breaks my heart, but I heard somewhere recently that it’s important not to step in and shelter kids from tough times, because they will not learn to lean on God for themselves.


As parents, we are not here to fix everything in the lives of our children, but rather, point them to Jesus. He alone can heal the heart of man...He alone allows the hard things for our good and for His glory.


So in the end, no matter the outcome, if we trust fully in the God of our salvation, we can say with all our heart, "it is indeed well with my soul."


Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." - Psalm 91: 1 & 2


Infertility Resource


If you are dealing with infertility or know of someone who is, Alyssa follows a sweet blog called http://waitingforbabybird.com/. She is also working on a blog of her own and I will share that soon!


Until next time


Bitter Sweet-Absolutely

P.S.- Yes, I did put my Christmas decorations up last weekend!! But you will still see a few pumpkins lurking around!!

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