Hope

Have you ever hoped for something and it has not come to fruition? I have had many hopes in my life that never ended up a reality. But that didn’t prevent me from hoping for new things in the future.

I would even say that hopelessness led me to the hope of what is now Redeeming Grace! I was hopeless watching people I loved relapse, relationships fail, parents lose children, and friends die.

I remember another time in my life that I was hopeless. When I was 21, my mother was diagnosed with cancer. We had just reached the point where our relationship was shifting from me being an angry teen to becoming friends. It was the summer of 1996, and we had just spent time together at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Auburn University was on the quarter system then, so classes hadn’t started when we found out about her diagnosis on Labor Day weekend. I made the decision to take time off and go home with her while she got treatments. The prognosis wasn’t good, but she pushed on with an excellent attitude. In November we got the news that the original tumors had shrunk by 75%, and we were so hopeful that the treatments were actually working. Unfortunately our hope didn’t last very long. In just a few weeks we would find out that the cancer had spread and she would pass away a few days before Christmas.

Hopelessness. It was a dark time. Her funeral was on December 23 and on the next day I was at church celebrating the Birth of Jesus. I had experienced deep hopelessness, but soon after deep hope! Hope knowing that each day is a new beginning and that emotions, situations, and circumstances can and will change.