A God of Hope

This picture was taken 4 years ago this week in eastern Ohio. It was early on a Wednesday morning at a little Panera restaurant. I don’t remember what I ate. I wasn’t really hungry. I am sure I had a cup of coffee or two; half dark roast, half hazelnut, because that is my Panera staple. If I look tired, it is because I was. I had spent the last two nights sleeping in a hospital bed. The last two days had been filled with uncertainty. Even though everything was in place, the outcome was still uncertain. At any point Hattie Jo’s birth mom could change her mind and all our hopes and plans could come crashing down on us. The morning of this picture Chad and I were exhausted, obviously. Hattie Jo was 2 days old. We had named her, held her, fed her, loved her, and yet we were still completely out of control. We simply had to trust.

Mary was young, possibly as young as 14. Her days were promised to a man who would soon be her husband. She had plans and ideas of what life would be like. Then an angel named Gabriel shows up with some pretty exciting, scary, disturbing, confusing news; “you are going to have a baby and he will be the savior of the world.” I can imagine that Mary needed a strong cup of coffee after that encounter. She was going to mother the Messiah. She said yes. She simply trusted God.

On days when life’s twists and turns bring about discouragement, illness, struggle, hopelessness, days where you feel totally out of control, you can trust that there is a God who is in control. When, like Mary, you take steps of huge faith, you can know and trust that God has your back. He is worthy of your trust.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)