Grace from the Ashes

It is hard to believe how many things can change in a few months.  I laugh to think that I had plans.  I announced that, after months of drought, that I was finally coming back to my blog.  Little did I know that God had different plans.

My dad had a major heart attack.

My father-in-law passed away.

My husband found out that his job will be ending.

In other words, life happened.

I had had the greatest anticipation for this year.  I thought it would be different.  I thought we would finally be able to rise out of this season that we have been in for the last 8 years.  I thought I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

Some people might say that I was wrong.  I might even be tempted to believe that.  But along with this sense of anticipation, I also think God gave me a word.

He gave me “hope“.

Hope might sound like foolishness in the midst of loss and heartache and uncertainty.  But I don’t think it does.

Hope can be defined as a wish.  Anticipation.  A desire.  Hope can sound like a flighty, head-in-the-clouds kind of desire.  The kind of thing associated with birthday candles on a cake.

The hope I am talking about is the deep-seated, heart-felt belief, the certainty that God is in control.

He was in control when my dad felt the pains in his chest.

He was in control when Pete’s dad took his last breath.

He is in control as we anticipate an uncertain future.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “‘I know the plans I have for you’, says the Lord,  ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'”(NIV)

What it doesn’t say is that I will be privy to every minute detail of God’s plan.  It doesn’t say that I am in control.

But God is.

It just takes faith.

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1 (NIV).

 

It takes faith to believe that God can and will restore my dad’s health.  It takes faith to believe that God can carry our extended family through grief to healing.  It takes faith that God will provide for our family.

It may seem foolish, but I am excited about what God is birthing in me and our family.  I am excited about the opportunities that are suddenly springing up.  I am excited about heading in a new direction.

I don’t believe that we should sit around and wait for a job to call or knock at our door.  It is going to take effort.  We may have to stretch our faith a little.  But we have done it before.  We have been handed situations that have been difficult and yet, we are still here.  I still believe in my Father God.

I still have hope.