Hope by Sharla Saunders: Advent Day 11

Posted on December 11, 2019 | Posted by Mary Stoneback

“You are only as happy as your saddest child.” (Or friend. Or loved one.) This has resonated with me in 2019. Maybe it does with you, too. This year, we experienced an unusual number of heartaches and challenges as a family: job losses, 4 moves in 5 weeks, and serious re-consideration of career paths. We lost Andy’s brother quite suddenly, had to move his mother to memory care, and learned of my own mother’s diagnosis with lung cancer. In October one of my dearest friends called to tell me she’d been assaulted in her own front yard. We felt helpless as we spoke with scared or heartbroken loved ones on the other end of the phone. In desperate efforts to comfort, we’d squeeze out the words: “Hold on to what you know to be true: Our God loves us. He cares. He holds the future, and He is with us. Hold on to Truth!” These words have given us space to breathe and allowed us to see Hope.

Clinging to God’s Truth has permitted us to rejoice in the light that does indeed shine in the darkness. And when the joys came this year – new jobs, new career directions, a delightful new grandson, a beautiful new daughter-inlaw…we rejoiced in these glimpses of Hope for our future that the darkness cannot overcome!

Father God, sometimes we strain our eyes to see Your light in the darkness. Please give us courage to hang on to what we know to be true. Amen.

~Sharla Saunders