Hope

Faith, hope, love and perseverance are the pillars that are at the foundation of “Puzzled.” The pillars are what brought us through and keep us moving forward to share our story with others.

Looking at hope through broader lenses gives us a glimpse into the next step we can take. It allows us to have something to look forward to, no matter how low we are at the moment; no matter the circumstances we are currently facing, hope gives us a glimmer of what is to come and what can come.  When we meet God with our faith and hope at the darkest times in our lives, He gives us the sense of being loved, wanted and okay. Hope is knowing that Jesus is going to love us through each and every storm we face in life as long as we turn our burdens to Him and obey Him.

Our journey has many parallels to Sarah and Abraham’s stories in the Bible. We may not have experienced 100+ years of infertility (Praise the Lord we did not!) but we have faced the loss associated with fertility issues for 5+ years. We can choose to sit and dwell in the past, the what-if’s, why us-losing our hope to ever become parents, or we can choose to be more like Sarah and Abraham and move forward with unending hope and faith.  Yes, we had times where we were upset and angry, but we always kept hope that tomorrow would be better.  We knew that God’s plans were bigger than ours and whatever we were going through would only be temporary.  Through steadfast hope, the Lord will provide us with everything we need in order to fulfill His ultimate plans for us.

You may find yourself in a season of life where you are much like Sarah and Abraham, unsure if something will ever happen.  Maybe, you are in the middle of a miscarriage, another negative pregnancy test or trying to overcome addiction after many setbacks. We must remember that even in the darkest of times, we must have hope that our next moments will be prosperous. Darkness will not prevail when our hope exists. Rev. Jim Williams is pastor of the Gloucester Assembly of God on Washington Street writes,  “Time and time again we see Jesus welcoming the outcasts (and who decided they were outcasts in the first place?), healing the sick, restoring those who were spiritually or emotionally afflicted, forgiving sin and freeing people from shame.” In Jeremiah 29:11 it states “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” These plans may take a different path than we want and have some unchartered waters, but these plans will end some place far greater than what we even thought possible.

Today, the world has become more divided and cynical than ever before.  We are in a time where love and kindness seem to be lost and hatred and one’s own agenda seem to take over.  The world should be filled with people who are the beacon of hope instead of a world full of hate.  Be the hope for not only for yourself but for someone else today.  Have hope for a better tomorrow.

XOXO

Mark and Megan