The Door of Hope

We are learning so much as a family right now. In the midst of our pain, the Lord is continually reaching out to us through so many loving people. It is a month today since Zac was born and tomorrow a month since he beat us to Heaven :0) During this last month the Lord has showed us what "love in action" looks like as people have ministered to us through meals, message, flowers, phone calls, prayers and visits. I have been so deeply touched by so many people who have walked the road of losing a child who have contacted us to encourage us. It once again shows me how God never ever wastes any of our pain. These precious people have come along side us and shared their stories with us. It has touched my heart so deeply that most of the people who have written to me have never met me, yet they are willing to share such a vulnerable part of their hearts with us in telling us their stories. What an encouragement to see how God is faithful to heal the broken hearted. I understand more fully now how we overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. Testimony has the ability to break down walls and crush the enemy. It declares how BIG God really is even in the midst of pain or suffering. 

When we were in Cape Town, very dear friends of ours who also said goodbye to their precious little boy at his birth this year reached out to us and gave us hope. They even came to cry and pray with us the night Zac passed away. We were so humbled by their willingness to be there with us, so soon after having been in our position. In the midst of their pain they demonstrated the hope and peace God gives to those who turn to Him.

Again yesterday, another couple who walked this path 5 years ago flew in to see us for one afternoon just to encourage us and share their story of how God brought them through. They flew all the way to share a verse that has so deeply encouraged us and I want to encourage you with this message of hope today. 

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her (Israel) and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak tenderly and to her heart. There I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor (troubling) to be for her a door of hope and expectation. And she shall sing there and respond as in the days of her youth and as at the time when she came up out of the land of Egypt."

Hosea 2:14-15

There is just so much that speaks to my heart in these two simple verses. The first thing that stands out to me is how God allures us at times, into the wilderness, to speak tenderly to our hearts. It is even in the place of the wilderness that he gives us our vineyards - a place of life and growth! Isn't it amazing how God works so differently to how we see life. The wilderness represents loneliness, heat, even barrenness to us, but to God it is the place where only He can produce a place of fruitfulness and life. He also speaks tenderly to our hearts in these desolate place. 

This verse also tells us that God is able to make the places of our trouble to be a door of hope and expectation for us. I see that through the many messages of encouragement that come through to me from those who have lost loved ones. They know the pain but also can testify to the life and hope that God brings even through our pain.
Whatever it is that you are facing today - God is able to meet you in your wilderness and speak tenderly to your heart ... words of hope and life. May you hear His gentle whispers and find strength and perspective in His love.
All my love,
Janine