The wrestling of the past year has been HOPE.
Where will we place our hope?
Will we place our hope IN bringing a child home?
Or, will we hope FOR that, but not IN it?
Many, many people… family, friends and even strangers are hoping with us that God would grow our family. We are so grateful for that. We are hoping for that too. But God has been taking us on a journey of discovering that EVEN IF He does not grow our family here on earth… it is enough what He has done. He is ENOUGH for us. His grace has been sufficient in our lives and will continue to be. Our gaze is being lifted to the kind of hope that doesn’t disappoint. Jesus. The kind of hope that Paul talks about in Romans 5 where “suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope: and hope does not disappoint, BECAUSE the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” I don’t know about you, but I want the kind of hope that doesn’t disappoint, thats rooted in something and someone one far deeper than my circumstances. It is a hope that is anchored in the one who gives us life, who redeems us, who has poured out His love on us and in us, who is the source of living water that satisfies EVERY need… yes, EVERY longing of our heart… from the ache for our children, the ache to get to parent a child, to the simple, daily things we struggle to find life in that hold no life at all. He satisfies us IN the longing, IN the ache not from it. He is our thirst quencher. He is the one who can bring peace IN our pain, not from but IN. And as we look to Jesus, he holds the keys to our happy ending. He IS the key to our happy ending, when ALL is redeemed…. ALL. Oh, we pray that a taste, a mere glimmer of that sweet redemption would mean bringing home a healthy baby. But, if that were our goal, if that is what would produce the happiness and joy we long for than we are to be pitied for even that will hold its own set of disappointments and no doubt, still leave us only half full. No child, no husband, no new car, fancy dress, perfect body, (the list could go on) can quench the thirst our hearts have. Only Jesus can. Nowhere in scripture does God tell us that we can find true and lasting hope in the circumstances of this life, even the good circumstances. Hope is always spoken of in connection with Him. So yes, celebrate with us when and if the Lord continues to grow our family and then eagerly await all the more with us the day when all is made right. Our happy ending is nestled within the here and the not yet of the Kingdom of God. It is founded on the promise of new life that God gives to us now and will be seen in fruition when Jesus returns and restores this world, our bodies, wiping every tear from our eyes, and eradicating every ache of our heart. Perhaps better put, we should say we are living in our happy beginning, for there is no end to the Kingdom of God and His kingdom people.
- A Time to be Silent and a Time to Speak - October 29, 2020
- Teaching Them to Hope, Birthday After Birthday. - January 15, 2020
- A Taste of Hope Fulfilled – Briella Dawn’s Birth Story - August 3, 2018
