HOPE

This is my favorite Christmas ornament on my tree. I actually keep it up all year long hanging it on a wall shelf. It's my reminder to keep hoping no matter what. If you are struggling with infertility like me I'm sure this month has been a hard one. Just about every Christmas card hanging on my mantel are my close friends and families with babies, kids, families of three or more smiling, dressed up in matching outfits, and pregnant bellies for the first, second, third, OR fourth time. That's when a four letter word like HOPE hanging on my Christmas tree is just one of those great reminders...that God has a plan for my family too.

I love this verse in 2 Cor. 4:8 "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." There may be baby shower invitations in the mail, family gatherings with nieces and nephews, pregnancy announcements, and Christmas cards on the mantel, BUT...with God there is HOPE to keep us going and trusting.

(From Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman - October 30)

Running "with patience" is a very difficult thing to do. The word "running" itself suggests the absence of patience, or an eagerness to reach the goal. Yet we often associate patience with lying down or standing still. We think of it as an angel who guards the bed of the disabled. Yet I do not believe that the kind of patience a disabled person may have is the hardest to achieve.

There is another kind of patience that I believe is harder to obtain--the patience that runs. Lying down during a time of grief, or being quiet after a financial setback, certainly implies great strength, but I know of something that suggests even greater strength--the power to continue working after a setback, the power to still run with a heavy heart, the power to perform your daily tasks with deep sorrow in your spirit. This is a Christlike thing!

Many of us could tearlessly deal with our grief if only we were allowed to do so in private. Yet what is so difficult is that most of us are called to exercise our patience not in bed but in the open street, for all to see. We are called upon to bury our sorrows not in restful inactivity but in active service--in our workplace, while shopping, and during social events--contributing to other people's joy. No other way of burying our sorrow is as difficult as this, for it is truly what is meant by running "with patience."

Rom. 8:24-25

"But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. "

Myself included...lets HOPE ONLY in God and run with patience. God has already taken our family photo Christmas cards for years to come, He just hasn't shown us yet...