Just remember, the sweet is never as sweet without the sour, and I know the sour.

The history buffs know June 6 to be D-Day, the day the Allied Forces stormed the beaches of Normandy in 1944. That was, of course, a bright spot on the war's landscape in favor of the Allies.

I don't like to share too much of a personal nature in this venue, especially in the realm of my feelings. But, for me this has been a dark day for the past 6 years. Today is the 5 year anniversary of when we had a miscarriage back in 2002.

Sarah (age 3 at the time) named the baby "Kasha" and was quite a comfort to me the day I had to break the news.

It was a tough time for us, but an eye opening experience as we felt the love of those in the body of Christ, but also because we learned just how many others had endured the same trying experience.

I've heard that at least 1 in every 3 pregnancies end in miscarriage, which means there's a lot of sadness out there. Even as a pastor I am not immune, in fact, such an experience better enables me to relate to my people who hurt at various times and in various ways.

Yet, most of all we're reminded that we don't have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with His people (Heb 4:15), for the Son of God was a "Man of Sorrows" well acquainted with grief and suffering (Is 53:3).

Praise be to God for His comfort and grace. I honestly don't know how folks make it otherwise.

The feed that supplies my daily Scripture verse on my blog today gave me:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23, ESV)

It's so appropriate, because it reminds me that the Holy Spirit gives joy.

I'm not trading my sorrows ... for the joy of the Lord. Joy is not contingent upon the absence of sorrow. Just as Christ was acquainted with sorrow, so am I and so are many of you. Yet, through Christ we have joy in the midst of the sorrows.