In Christ Alone our Hope is Found

For me, summertime is the time that I try to pull the house together. De-cluttering and organizing don't get done during the school year. I try to keep things tidy and to a minimum. Stuff makes me miserable. We live in small quarters, so no matter how much I try to purge we always have too much stuff for my comfort. (: Today I was helping Micah tidy his room and go through some stuff. It was time for us to go through his hospital stuff. His art therapy memories have already been pared down. We have kept his special stuffed animals, his ports, his bravery beads, his oxygen mask and many other things. They are things that remind us of the journey. They tell a story.  Micah's stuff animals remind him of surgeries and procedures. His oxygen mask makes me ache at the remembrance of the utter pain he suffered in March 2010 in the week following his lung surgery. I am thankful that he can't remember.  His ports bring joy because they are out and not needed....

When I look around I see: Families and marriages that are broken. People who have hopes dashed without an answer in sight.  A husband who will lose a wife and little girls who will grow up without their mummy. People who battle with the same wretched sin for years. A man who fought for years and the Lord has taken him home leaving a wife and boys to grieve. An old man who has stopped thinking clearly and who has started to lose himself. Parents who grieve the loss of children and children who grieve the loss of parents. Circumstances may not change and the pain may only fade a little over time, but God's goodness, mercy, grace, and faithfulness are woven into Who He is and those things will never change. He is good in joy and in grief. He is good when He gives life and when He takes it. Because of Who he is and His promises, He is enough. Enough to heal marriages. Enough to carry us through all sorts of grief. Enough to give us the strength to fight our deepest sins....