Finding Hope

We are doing it, Finding Hope.  What seemed overwhelming last week now feels realistic and manageable.  Scary, but manageable.  What changed? After the initial shock of the gigantic swerve in the road I experienced, I realized something.  Hope is where you look for it.

Hope is everywhere, we just don't look sometimes.  As I struggled to make sense of my new role at work, my father's cancer diagnosis, and the injustice of the foster care system, God showed me that there is hope all around me.

I found it in an amazing day spent shopping with just my two boys-a rare event.  Driving with Angie, she told me that she cannot wait to be adopted and there it was again.  Friends and family have asked what they can do to support me as I work longer hours.  Hope.  I can do this.  Then, a visit from my 8 months-pregnant daughter and I am flooded with it.  My dad's surgery was scheduled and we realized we can still take the family vacation that we were ready to cancel.  It is everywhere.

We all do it.  We get wrapped up in the details and the challenges and it becomes hard to see anything else. One of my childhood friends lost her mother suddenly this week.  I cannot imagine the pain.  Another child returned to foster care after an unsuccessful return home to her parents.  A family deals with the pain of a new diagnosis for their child.  This is tough stuff.  It can take you to the very bottom of the pit.  And yet, I am grateful for God's power to remind me of all that I have.  He will do it for you too.

There was never less hope for me, I just didn't see it.   I have so much to be grateful for and there is no time to moan about having to make changes in my life.  I have too much to do!