![\"Shawnelle](\"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/blog_sunshoulders_350.jpg\")
\u201cLook, Shawnelle,\u201d Lonny says. \u201cPictures from the lake.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cMom, may I have this old camera?\u201d Gabe asks. He\u2019s holding a digital camera that Lonny and I used a few years ago. It wasn\u2019t a very good camera, and we upgraded soon after purchase. Today Gabe found it on the bottom shelf of Lonny\u2019s bedroom cabinet \u2013 behind the plastic tub of Play dough toys he\u2019d been rooting around for.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if it works,\u201d I say. \u201cWait until Daddy\u2019s home. He can change the batteries and see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabe agrees, and a few hours later, hands curled around the camera, he meets Lonny at the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we get this working?\u201d he asks.<\/p>\n
And soon they\u2019re hunkered over the dining room table.<\/p>\n
Later in the evening I\u2019m standing at basin of dishes when I hear a tumble of voices from the schoolroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at me,\u201d Sam says. \u201cI was so small.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wipe my hands and follow the voices. Lonny and the three boys are jumbled on the sofa. The camera is working and they\u2019re looking through pictures on the long forgotten disk.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, Shawnelle,\u201d Lonny says. \u201cPictures from the lake.\u201d<\/p>\n
I take the camera in my hands and peer at the screen. The pictures are from seven years ago. Lonny and I are standing close, backs to the lake\u2019s variegated blues.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re smiling and my hair is blowing in the breeze. The sun is on our shoulders. Our five sons were somewhere near us, and we\u2019re completely carefree.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t know that soon, that fall, we\u2019d have struggles with two of our sons.<\/p>\n
But I stood that day, kissed by summer and endless good things. I stood, in what I thought was seamless joy, having no idea of what was coming around the bend.<\/p>\n
Oh, I wish that I could whisper to that unknowing, smiling, unsuspecting me.<\/p>\n
I wish I could pull that mama aside and speak in tones of compassion. I\u2019d hold her hand and share from the heart. Here is what I\u2019d say:<\/p>\n
Things will be tough. But you have a Savior who will understand your struggle. He\u2019ll speak through His Word. He\u2019ll speak into your life. He\u2019ll encourage you. And His voice will be your sustaining grace.<\/em><\/p>\n Your relationship with your husband, in God\u2019s goodness, will grow. You\u2019ll love and understand and support one another in new ways. The struggles will stretch to the foundation of your marriage but the Lord will meet you there and will build you strong. <\/em><\/p>\n The Lord will also bring others to help you. To pray with you. To extend empathy and support and wisdom. His provision will be sufficient. His provision will be sweet.<\/em><\/p>\n Your trust in the Lord will grow. You\u2019ll begin to understand His love for your children. You\u2019ll cling to the truth that He will go with your children wherever they go. And slowly, in time, you\u2019ll open your fist and release to Him what you hold most dear.<\/em><\/p>\n I hand the camera back to Lonny and the boys laugh as he continues to move through the pictures. I sidle in next to them and join the fun. There\u2019s a shot of Gabe as a toddler. His hair is whiter than the sand. There\u2019s one of Logan and Grant, giving a gun show, flexing pre-teen muscles on arms that are tanned brown.<\/p>\n And there\u2019s one of the seven of us. Isaiah is a baby in a floppy sun hat and the bigger boys are making funny faces. The smile on my face comes straight from the heart.<\/p>\n There\u2019s one more thing, I think, that I\u2019d share with that mama in the photo:<\/p>\n Laugh when you can. Remember how to smile. Take the time to let the sun rest on your shoulders. <\/em><\/p>\n These things are sustaining graces.<\/em><\/p>\n And you\u2019re going to be okay.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cMom, may I have this old camera?\u201d Gabe asks. He\u2019s holding a digital camera that Lonny and I used a few years ago. It wasn\u2019t a very good camera, and we upgraded soon after purchase. Today Gabe found it on the bottom shelf of Lonny\u2019s bedroom cabinet \u2013 behind the plastic tub of Play dough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":27650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[62,70,80,68],"ppma_author":[491],"class_list":["post-17939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-positive-living","tag-blessings","tag-mother","tag-stories-of-hope","tag-summer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n