Holding Out Hope

We’ve had a lot of “This too shall pass..” moments around here lately.

Most of them just minor inconveniences. Fridge Breaking (It’s fixed.) Car breaking again (also fixed.) Toaster breaking in the middle of the morning waffle toasting (it’s been replaced.) Hole in the Ceiling (appears to not be a major “roof” issue– fingers crossed on that one.) Oh, and the dreaded stomach bug over the last few days, (It seems to have left one child and hopefully will leave the other in the next day or so. It could have been so much worse.)

All of these were inconvenient. Most cost money we didn’t want to spend. But God provided in every. single. circumstance. But the whole, “If it’s not one thing it’s another” phrase? It seems to have been so much at one time. I found myself making a mental “gratefulness list” just to survive and keep some shred of sanity.

Thankful for the temporary use of a small fridge. Thankful for the time and ingredients to bake muffins to replace our toast. Thankful for the repairman that saved us over $1,000 just because we shopped around. Thankful the ceiling issue may be due to the air conditioner, and thus– covered by home warranty. Thankful that both girls were not actively… getting “sick” at the same time. Thankful for a sale on gatorade and jello. Thankful for a found coupon that saved us $10.00 on a new toaster. Thankful for the generosity of others. Thankful for the home we have in which we all get to share our life (and even all these problems) TOGETHER. Thankful that we are healthy. So thankful we are healthy. 

However.

There’s another element of this. We’ve had another struggle that causes all of these to sort of pale in comparison. It’s definitely what I was most thinking about when I wrote this last month. There has been this mountain in our way for close to a year now. We’ve been faithful to pray about it at every turn. We’ve taken the necessary steps to “eliminate” this mountain from our lives, but only after we felt confirmation from God about the proper course of action. But mostly, we have just found silence. Encouraging silence, to be sure. The encouragement that He is moving, though we cannot see it, but silence still. There was a time back in April, when we had an opportunity to go in a completely different direction, somewhere we once called home and we. just. couldn’t. do . it. Though nearly every bit of evidence appeared to point to the fact that this opportunity was the wise course of action, we just couldn’t find peace regarding the new opportunity. And though we know that was the right decision, it did make it difficult to return to our current circumstances, not knowing how long it would be until God opened the right door.

Well, we wait still and I have to be honest and say, that the waiting is so hard. In the last few days, it has become evident that our current situation may end abruptly… before God has revealed our next step. That is very difficult to accept.  The unknown just got a lot bigger. I find myself desperate for some unbelievably encouraging words to share with the one I love. Some truth about our future, but the fact is… This is a bit of a Red Sea. And we are waiting for God to part the waters for us. And only HE knows how He will, and when. And our job? Sit back and wait for Him to open the door. And praise Him in the interim.

I read this post this morning, When Seemingly Worse is Better than Sameness, and though it’s mainly about the complete disarray that comes in a Home Renovation, I found it completely applicable to our lives right now. Because I KNOW. I know that when dealing with a home project, things appear to get way worse before they start to get better. That’s us. That’s where we are with this. Sitting in a pile of chaos, waiting for the beauty and order. Knowing that something AMAZING is just around the corner.

Someone wise said to me yesterday, “Tell Lance, He isn’t Job. He is Joseph.” It took me until this morning on my walk to think of that again and wrap my head around the fact that it’s true. Though it may seem that all of this is for evil. (And believe me, it does. We are confident that this is as much a spiritual battle as anything else.) God will mean it for GOOD.

Redemption.

We see just a fragment of what He is doing. Just a small shred of His plan for our lives. All of this… all of these trials give us every opportunity to trust in Him. We have the special gift of putting feet to our faith. We are able to hold out HOPE that He is active and that He truly will bring His purposes to pass. And that we will not be left alone. We may be left uncomfortable for a while. But not alone. And Praise God, not without Hope.