Hope

I found myself, today, blind-sided by emotion. I have been so busy the last few months with college, my family, friends, American Heritage Girls and countless other tasks that I think it has been easy to hide myself. However, as the pace of life slows back down, I find myself trying to readjust to having a few mintues to quiet myself and see what's really going on in my heart.

Sometimes life comes at you hard. There has rarely been a conversation lately that doesn't have someone walking through   clawing their way through a battle. Some of these battles have the very lives of the people at stake. Some battles are parents who are fighting for the spiritual, mental and emotional lives of their teens. Other battles are the moms that are exhausted from their children and their "hard" stages or those who have kiddos with special needs and see no light at the end of the tunnel. Some battles are the ones that are not our own, but a place where support and walking along side the one who is fighting has become a personal battle ground.

These battles can be exhausting and taxing on everyone involved. Sometimes it is easy to look around at the situation and think that if we just give up or just give in, it would be so much easier; it would be over. Sometimes we look ahead and the fear we feel is so intense that we can't move, can't think, can't hear or decide what the right decision is. Fear is powerful. It makes us doubt ourselves. We are afraid to make a mistake with our kids. Afraid of the unknown of a treatment. Afraid our needs won't be met. Afraid that when those we love need us most, we will end up being as useless and helpless as we feel. Yes, fear is powerful, but it is nothing compared to hope.

Hope is the armor that protects us. Hope is the instrument we use to fight. Hope is the thing that when we look at ourselves, battered and bruised, it makes us stand up again and fight another mintute, another hour, another day. For those of us who Hope in the Lord, there is comfort. A knowledge that nothing catches Him by surprise. A thankfulness, that when we seek it, rises from the depths of our soul and pours out like a healing balm. It helps us look and see how blessed we really are. A grace that is able to say through our tears, "He gives and takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord." It is when we have nothing left, no more answers, no more ideas, no more strength in ourselves, that Hope rises.

Hope reminds us that we are never alone. Faith tells us that God has a plan and that plan gives us a future and hope. Love tells us that every tear we cry is stored and will one day be turned to joy. So don't give up, we all will make it to the other side of the fear, to end of the battle, with everything riding on Hope to get us through.