Hiding Place DevotionalSample

Hope Floats

 A couple of years ago, I hit a very low point in my mothering journey. We were facing some very hard challenges with our oldest child. Challenges that I was struggling to understand and no one could seem to give me any straight answers. Challenges that led us to multiple doctors and therapies and in the midst of it all, hope was slowly seeping out of my heart. Hope had become like a leaky boat. The hole started out small and unnoticeable. But as time went on, it grew a little more and a little more until one day we found ourselves beginning to sink. We'd do all the things we thought would patch it up, but it was all for naught...like a wet band-aid that doesn't stick. Hope is a tricky thing. You don't really notice that it has a leak until you're completely soaked. Read Hebrews 10:23-25 You see, we thought we could handle it on our own. We thought our burdens were too heavy, too messy, too dark, too inconvenient to share with anyone else. We were so wrong. We had neglected community and our hope began to waver as our circumstances sloshed us about. Hope needs motivation and encouragement. Without it, hope sinks. The Liar will try and make us believe that we're in too deep, too broken to be fixed. The Liar will tell us others don't want to get wet or become soiled by our mess. But Truth says Hope is worth holding onto. It says Hope is hard and needs a tight grip, otherwise our hands get slippery with the muck of life and we let go. Truth says Hope only holds tight when others are holding on with us. God isn't stoic. He doesn't stand by and watch us hurt with a straight face and folded arms. He is a compassionate Father who sent His own Son to show us how important it is to be WITH each other. He lived in community with twelve close friends who literally walked the journey with Him. God doesn't expect us to live any differently. He wants us to cling tight to Him TOGETHER. He knows He fulfills our every need. But He also knows that without each other we would lose grip of Hope.