Advent: Hope
I certainly feel like our world is weary and looking for hope.
This Advent season has me reflecting on hope more than I have in a long time. Maybe the year 2020 has caused me to need hope more than ever. My favorite Christmas carol, “O Holy Night” has the lyrics, “A thrill of hope; the weary world rejoices.” I certainly feel like our world is weary and looking for hope.
I want that thrill of hope, don’t you? Those lyrics describe what, perhaps, people felt after the years of silence from God before Christ was born. Imagine it, if you can, years and years of silence from God. When suddenly you hear it being passed around town, “Did you hear? He’s here. There’s a baby that’s been born. They say it’s the Son of God.” Talk about a thrill of hope! God’s silence is no more. He’s here in the flesh.
I’ve gotten a tiny glimpse of what that silence may have felt like this year. As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog post, my husband and I have been walking the road of infertility for a year and a half. For 18 months, we have gone through renewed hope and then once again, disappointment, as we wait for God to create this baby in my womb.
Christmas can be an especially hard season for infertility. When anyone asks what I want for Christmas, I bite back the desire to state pointedly: a baby. As photos are taken around the festive holiday table, I can’t help but know something - rather someone - is missing. There should be presents wrapped under the tree for that child I’ve been longing for, but for some reason it hasn’t happened. I mean, the entire Christmas season is centered around a baby. It’s hard to forget your own lack of one.
If you are someone that can resonate with this pain, I am so sorry. I know so many personally that have walked down this path and it is indeed, wearisome. Hanging onto hope is exhausting sometimes. But it doesn’t have to be.
For me, Christ has taught me a lot about Himself through this journey. I picked to write on the word “hope” for Advent, because I think that is exactly the one word I used consistently in 2020. I have hoped for Covid-19 cases to slow down. I have hoped for a pregnancy. I have hoped. And I will continue to hope.
You know what the Bible says about hope? It does not disappoint (Romans 5:5). Hope, when it is from the Lord, is living. It isn’t just wishful thinking. It is certain. Christ offers us a living hope (1 Peter 1:3). Living hope doesn’t mean everything will turn out just the way or in the timeframe we want it, but it does mean the Lord will always fulfill His promises (2 Peter 3:9).
We saw time and time again the Lord does not fail. He does not forget. He is for us. He is with us.
When the Dayton Women in the Word teams went through our “Prophecies Fulfilled” series this past fall, we saw time and time again the Lord does not fail. He does not forget. He is for us. He is with us. If He said He was gonna come to earth as a baby, then He will. If He says He’s going to return, then He will!
As I studied the Psalms this year, I saw time and time again the Lord tells me to “remember.” Remember who God is. Remember His promise to be our refuge, to be our safe place.
So when the pregnancy test comes back negative… again… and again… and again… how do I cling to hope? I cling to hope because I know while I’m disappointed things aren’t going quite my way, God’s plans are bigger, and they are better. My hope is not in my circumstances changing, but in the God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Toward the end of “O Holy Night,” the lyrics go, “He knows our need, to our weaknesses no stranger.” Friend, this is why I have hope. As I write this blog post, I am weeks into my first IUI fertility treatment. I don’t know if it will lead to pregnancy on this first round or not. I also don’t know if a vaccine is going to help us return to “normal” by the end of 2021. I do know the Lord is good. He knows our needs, and He is not surprised by our weaknesses. That brings me hope. I am not alone in this journey, and I never will be. The Lord is always ready to listen to my laments.
When I realize and remember these truths, I simply turn it back to praise to the One who deserves it.
And out of the truth of this living hope, comes praise. I think it’s inevitable, in fact. When I realize and remember these truths, I simply turn it back to praise to the One who deserves it.
Perhaps that’s why “O Holy Night” ends with, “Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever, His power and glory evermore proclaim.”
No matter what comes, no matter whether the test is positive or negative, no matter whether COVID is gone in another two months or two years, we have hope. Praise His name forever.
Jen Ward is the Written Content Contributor for DWITW. Jen wants to live in a world where chocolate croissants grow on trees, all babies automatically sleep through the night, and every woman feels empowered to study Scripture on her own. Connect with Jen via Instagram @JenieAnn. If you are currently walking through infertility and need a friend to chat with, she would especially love to hear from you and pray for you!