Hope

Hope. It’s such a simple word, yet carries a mountain of emotions. The slightest bit can help anyone turn the page on a difficult season and start a new chapter with exciting possibilities.

We met with our While We’re Waiting Support Group this week. One of the things we talked about is the hope we have of seeing our children again. Hope can be a little harder to grasp on to this time of the year. Everyday is tough. Holidays are a little more so. Everyone talks about the joy of the season. Stores are dressed in bright colors and playing festive songs. Everywhere we look are pictures of happy families gathering together to celebrate. 

It can be painful to those who are missing an important part of their family; those who aren’t able to feel the same joy as everyone around them.

How do we find hope when our hearts are hurting?

Romans 8:18 says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

When I first read this verse, I thought, “I don’t want to talk about that. I don’t want to minimize the pain of those who are hurting.” Yet the more I read that passage, the more hope I feel. While Paul isn’t specifically speaking about grief in this chapter of Romans, I think the message applies. The hurt, the pain, the sadness, the hole in our hearts will be nothing compared to the glory of Heaven. It hurts right now. It will hurt tomorrow. In some form, we will ache for those we have lost for the rest of our lives. 

The difference is the hope we cling to as the grief hits us.

If we continue reading, verse 24 says. “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?”

We don’t hope for the things that we already have. However, we enjoy what we have while we hope for what is to come. 

My favorite part of this chapter and the premise behind While We’re Waiting is in verse 25.. “But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”

Eagerly.

That doesn’t mean we put on a happy face and fake it through all of the holiday celebrations. It doesn’t mean that we accept every invitation to attend every event. It doesn’t even mean that we continue every single tradition from past holidays.

After losing someone special, life is hard. The hope of what is to come should help us do more than just muddle through the days. It should give us a reason to yearn for eternity. To give it our all while we are here, knowing that God has something amazing waiting for us. 

The home that we have in Heaven is beyond anything our minds can fathom. I believe once we lay eyes on our Savior and the glory of eternity is revealed, the heartbreak, the pain, the difficulties of this earth, will all be forgotten. For what we are facing right now is nothing compared to the joy that is coming.