One Week until October 15

Hope.

This four-letter word has lost its rich significance in our current vocabulary. It is tossed around flippantly as a way to voice our personal desires.

I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow.
I hope this goes on sale.
I hope I get the job.
I hope….

But hope is more than wishful thinking. It’s more than putting a patch over the not-yets and wish-they-weres, because it has nothing to do with what might happen in the future. Instead, the beauty of this profound word is that it has everything to do with what has already been accomplished.

You see, hope began when our perfect Savior laid down His life on a shameful cross.

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
Romans 5:1-2

This. Is. Hope.

Hope is the blood of Christ poured out for you.
Hope is being able to stand before a holy God because you have been clothed in righteousness.
Hope is confidently and joyfully looking forward to sharing in God’s glory.
Hope is knowing that your precious babies are safe in the arms of God.
Hope is the finished work of the Savior King.

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,“
-Romans 5:3-4 (NLT)

As mothers who have experienced the heartache of losing a child, we are all too familiar with suffering. Too often, we resign to believe that hope and suffering are at war with each other. But what if, instead, we recognized that suffering is the perfect soil in which to see hope flourish. Dear one, it is there, in and through the darkness of your pain and sorrow, that hope shines brightest.

As we endure through sorrow and surrender to the sanctifying work that God desires to accomplish in us, hope breaks forth. As we fix our eyes on Christ through the valleys, we are anchoring our weary hearts to the hope that He bought for us on the cross. When crimson ran from His side and the Father turned away, when death was defeated and the grave overturned, we were marked with hope.

 “and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”
Romans 5:5,6

The hope of Christ does not disappoint us or put us to shame. No, our hope—our beautiful, blessed hope—rests secure in the God who never fails, the God who loved you and gave up His Son for you. Choosing hope is not merely wishing for brighter days ahead. It is proclaiming that there will come a day when the sorrow that we bear will be undone, our tears will be no more, and we will see our precious babies again.

So this year on October 15, we cling to hope, declaring that through it all He is enough. We will flood the skies as a reminder of our steadfast hope. Just as our balloons float up out of sight, we who are in Christ will one day be taken up beyond where we can see to be united with Him for all eternity.

Don’t forget to take a photo of yourself or your group and share it using #HopeMommiesOct15.  

How will you be honoring your babies this October 15? We’d love to hear how you shared hope and remembered our precious babies on this day! Send us pictures and share with us how you have chosen hope on October 15 HERE.

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Ashlee is the Editorial Coordinator for Hope Mommies, and author of I AM (Hope Mommies, 2016), and Identity (Hope Mommies, 2018). She and her husband, Jesse, live in Milwaukee with their children—five on earth and two with the Lord. You can read more of her writing on her blog.

 

 

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