If you don't laugh, you'll cry.  That has been my motto.  Well, this was one of those times.   


Recently I was on a trip down south to visit my kids for the holidays.   Since my kids are spread out in four different states, I decided to get the most bang for my buck and see as many of them as possible.   The journey began as I flew to see my son and daughter-in-law in North Carolina. From there I took a bus to South Carolina to visit my daughter and her family.  What should have been a four hour trip turned into 6-½ hrs as the bus broke down halfway there.  There's a Bible verse that says, “‭‭Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.”  Needless to say, not one of my favorites.  Joy is a choice and with joy, you can laugh.  So, when the bus broke down, I decided to make the best of it, even when the lady behind me chose to change her daughter's dirty diaper and the fumes were overwhelming and when I hobbled off the bus with my bad knee to go find something edible in the dollar store.  I ended up finding a generic lunchable with bologna and cheese.   I couldn't bring myself to read the ingredients.  (Actually part of me enjoyed it but that's our secret).  What got me through was keeping my mind on where I was going…being with my family and seeing the smiles on my granddaughter's faces.  For that, I would've climbed a mountain.


The next leg of the journey involved another bus ride to Georgia a week later.  After a nice visit with my oldest son and his family, he dropped me at the airport and this was where the “count it all joy” was going to make or break me.


Since my knee was in rebellion, I arranged for a wheelchair to take me to my gate.  If any of you have flown from Atlanta, you know this is one of the biggest airports in the world.  When I arrived at the wheelchair assistance area, there were many people in front of me.  I literally sat there until 10 min before my flight was boarding waiting for an escort.  My panic level was very high even though I was assured I wouldn't miss my flight. 


When we arrived at TSA security, the line wasn't terribly long but the woman in front of me didn't have an acceptable ID and the line stopped moving.  It gets better.   We finally got around her to another agent and proceeded up to the conveyor belt where I placed my shoes and suitcases so they could be scanned.   I stepped through the body scanner and waited for my things.   My plane was now boarding.   As my belongings came out of the machine, I quickly grabbed them only to find one of my shoes was missing!  I think I went into shock.  I searched other bins coming down the belt but my shoe was nowhere to be found.   I was on the verge of hysteria.  Count it all joy?  Since I didn't have any other shoes, I knew leaving was not an option.  Thankfully, they searched the machine and found it a few minutes later but the clock was ticking.   We had to take two elevators, a train and race through hallways.  As we rounded the corner to the gate we found an empty waiting room.  All the passengers had boarded.   As soon as she saw us, the agent at the gate said, Oh I thought my ladies were going to miss their flight!   We made it with minutes to spare.  Count it all joy.


When I arrived at my assigned seat, there was a gentleman sitting in it.  At this point, everything in me wanted to grab him by the shirt collar.  Count it all joy.   Instead, I politely informed him he was in the wrong seat.  After giving me a deer in the headlights look, he moved over.  I sat down and took some deep breaths to calm my racing heart.   


I've told this story many times.  I realized I could share it with the frustration and anger that I felt at the time but it wasn't going to do me any good to revive those feelings.  Instead I decided to count it all joy and bring joy to others by giving them a good laugh…the part about my shoe was the highlight.


Life is hard.   There's no way around it.   We are all on our own journeys, some longer than others.  Our stories are being written but we can choose how they end.   If you know me, you know mine has been of paralyzing anxiety and fear.   I don't want my story to end that way.  God doesn't want it to end that way.   My pastor said yesterday we need to say this to ourselves, “I'm not where I want to be but I'm not where I was.”   A year ago, I would've never thought I would be flying all over the country let alone by myself. For me, it's about accepting the hard things I can't change and knowing I'm never alone.  It's about believing there's always a light at the end of the tunnel even if I can't always see it.  “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”  John 1:5.   The light is Jesus and because of Him, I can count it all joy. 








Untangled

By Eileen Glotfelty • October 7, 2025
What do these things have in common: a dog's leash, Christmas lights, yarn, and neck chains …they all get tangled! If you've ever tried to untangle any of the above, you know how frustrating it can be…especially for a control freak. The neck chains are the worst. I can remember pulling one out of my jewelry box only to find a twisted tangled mess. I used to get a safety pin and painstakingly pull on each loop. I couldn't put it down until I had it untangled. OCD? Maybe. Life gets tangled in much the same way. For me, it happens in relationships, especially with loved ones. Maybe it's because the standards are higher and expectations are not met; or it's because we make ourselves vulnerable to those we love and our hearts feel the pain more deeply. Whatever the reason, things get tangled and become complicated. I have found myself in that place several times in my life. I don't like it when someone is upset with me so I try hard to make things right. It's not a matter of who's right or wrong. It's about the fact that in their eyes, I've offended them and whether it was intentional or not, they were hurt. Sometimes an apology isn't enough. Trust has been broken and it takes time to build it back up again. So what do you do when you've done everything you can to reconcile and the rejection is still there? You take a step back. You wait and you pray. You'll need to fight against the anger and resentment. Keep your heart in the right place. For me, it's a place of love and forgiveness and hope. Depending on the circumstances and the depth of the relationship, it could take awhile. I'm in a waiting period and I'm not going to kid myself. It may not happen in my lifetime but I do know this, I can wait with hope and peace and I can pray for them. Does it still hurt? Yes. There are days I grieve the loss of them but then I am gently reminded to let them go and trust the One who loves them more than I ever could. I read this verse today which may have have prompted my thoughts: John 13:34 NIV: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. If anyone knew how to love others through rejection, it was Jesus. He loved, He suffered, He forgave and He waits. He waited for me, He waits for you.

Hello and Goodbye

By Eileen Glotfelty • September 24, 2025
Mountains and valleys. Hellos and goodbyes. For me they're one and the same. I woke up this morning with a sense of dread because I knew I would be saying goodbye once again. Thankfully , I didn't get stuck there. My daughter and her family left today after coming up for a visit. They weren't here the whole time as they had places to go and people to see but it was nice having them near. I've come to realize that when someone is leaving me, I need to prepare myself emotionally ahead of time. I tend to focus on the negative aspect of things at times and saying goodbye is one of them. There was a time when saying goodbye would send me in a downward spiral. Not today and hopefully not ever again. After my family left, I went out to my happy place…my backyard swing, and as I was thinking about my family, this thought popped into my head. “Every time I've said goodbye, it was because, at some point, I said hello.” I latched onto that thought and realized goodbyes are only temporary. It may be awhile before I can say hello, but that day will come and it gave me hope. Until the next hello, I will think of the sweet memories we made while they were here…playing Old Maid and Uno; teaching the girls how to twirl a baton, laughing and singing and just the sheer joy of being with them. I know some goodbyes seem more permanent and I'm not making light of them. I've lost many loved ones and the separation seemed unbearable. There were days the grief was so strong, I didn't know how I was going to make it. But even in death, goodbye is only temporary. I say that because I know I'll see them again. I know because God said so. I started writing this because of saying goodbye to my family. I didn't expect it to take this turn but I'm thinking there's someone who's going to read this who is struggling with their own goodbyes. I want you to know you will be ok. God cares about our goodbyes and He will give you hope. I know because He did it for me. So take heart my friend. Hold onto Him. He'll bring you through. Goodbye is just a gateway to a new hello.

Reset

By Eileen Glotfelty • August 15, 2025
Recently I returned home after being away for a few months. It felt strange to walk into my own home. I wasn't accustomed to what should've been normal. That soon changed. The next morning I was at the kitchen sink and went to turn on the garbage disposal only to find it not working. Usually if it's jammed, you can still hear the sound of electricity but there was not a sound to be heard. My first stop was the circuit breaker box. Nothing was tripped so I moved on. As I stood in front of the sink, I knew what needed to happen next. That involved me kneeling down on the floor and looking for the brand and model number. I thought long and hard because after two knee surgeries, this was not a good idea. I did the next best thing…I called my sister for help. I wish we had a video camera, then again it was probably better that we didn't. She has a bad knee but that left her with one good one. She made it down onto the floor and got a picture of the label. We googled the unit to troubleshoot the problem. It turned out we needed to find the reset button on the bottom of the disposal. Easier said than done but we did it and power was restored. It needed a special wrench to unjam it but Amazon saved the day! Now why would I go on and on about a jammed garbage disposal? It's not about the fact it was jammed but that it could be reset. After that incident I was talking to my daughter and I heard myself say that I needed to push the reset button in some areas of my life. I wish it would be as simple as pushing the button on a garbage disposal but when you need a reset in life, it usually involves a long process. The areas I need to reset didn't get jammed up overnight. It took years of making excuses and wrong choices. The result of these choices found me powerless and stuck in a place I didn't want to be. As I thought about this, I looked up “reset” in the dictionary. One definition caught my eye. It said, “an act of fixing something in a new or different way.” That's what I need…a new way, a transformation. I don't know what the reset is going to look like or where it will take me but I do know that God made a promise. In Isaiah he says: “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. I know it has to be His way, not mine. That's where the power is. That's where I can move forward. With His power, nothing is impossible. I've wrestled with Him for many years and it was a waste of time. It will be a daily surrender to His will. I'm not going to dwell on the wasted time and say, “if only.” Instead I'm choosing to dwell on and be thankful that His mercies are new every morning. That is my reset button.