Short Thought continued.....

Holding Hope

She came into the room, head down, looking anxiously around.

Her eyes darted back and forth, taking in the unfamiliarity of her surroundings.

Her unspoken words hung in the air: ‘Can I really trust you?’

She began to tell her story, unravelling life’s events and concern flashed across the contours of her face.

Her question tugged at my heart: “Are you really hearing me?”

I began to speak; I began to tell her with my words and expressions that I heard her, I really heard her:

“I am with you. I am for you.”

The soft sounds of her tears filled the room; the floodgate that had been holding back her sadness and distress broke, and she released the pent-up cries of her heart and soul.

More of her precious story tumbled out in bursts of hurried, tear-stained words.

Life had dealt her a series of traumatic blows, and she had lost all hope for change.

We sat together, neither feeling the need for speech, a companionable silence growing between us.

I felt distressed for her distress: I felt her pain and misery: I felt inadequate, with nothing to offer.

Then I remembered the words of the One who is sufficient, who understands distress, and pain, and misery.

‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.’

(Proverbs 13:12)

The Oxford Dictionary defines the noun hope as

‘a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen; a feeling of trust’.

I asked her what she longed for, really longed for, in her situation.

She wanted to be free of the past, to remember without experiencing intense pain.

Fear crossed her face: “It’s risky, impossible, pointless.”

‘Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; 

it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.’

(Hebrews 11:1 NLT)

My heart whispered to hers: ‘May I hold hope for you, until you can hope yourself?’

Her face nodded as her tense muscles relaxed: “Yes”.

Do you feel hopeless in an unexpected situation?

Who can stand and hold hope for you until the storms of change pass?

Who can you hold hope for?

‘There is One sufficient who can hold hope for the world: Jesus Christ.

‘We pray that the Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father will comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say. God loved us and gave us through his grace a wonderful hope and comfort that has no end.’

(2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 ERV)

Posted 10/2/16