The Hope

     Do you ever get to the end of the day and feel like all you are accomplishing is just ruining your kids?  Do you ever feel like there must be someone -- ANYONE -- out there who could raise them better?  Do you ever feel like there isn't any hope?

     I have.  I have.  I have. 

     Some days I feel like a woodpecker that lives in our backyard . . . daily this confused creature hammers away at the lining of a trampoline pole.  You would think that it would realize there is nothing to show for it's efforts, but it just keeps doing the same thing over and over.  He works and works and yet sees no recompense.

     That is often how I feel at the end of a day -- like all of my efforts have yielded no reward.

     But we are not woodpeckers . . . we are moms!

     God knows that we are prone to face these doubts.  So every once in a while He allows a ray of bright, yellow sunshine to burst out from the dark, grey skies of parenthood -- and we see hope!

     Hope is the key to those sunny, blue sky moments -- that is what deflates the enemy's lies that we are ruining our children!

     These are the moments when God allows us a glimpse into the good seeds that are being fertilized and nurtured within our children.  Suddenly, ever so briefly, we realize, "Wow, maybe I am doing the right thing!  Maybe I am on the right path!" 

     Are you committed to, and do you love, your children?

     Are you asking for God to strengthen you for this task of parenting and give you the required wisdom?

     Are you remembering to seek your child's forgiveness when you do make mistakes?

     Then take heart, you are on the same journey . . . travelling the road that is more shaded than it is sunlit, more confusing than it is clear, BUT a journey we wouldn't want to trade for anything in the world!  Cling to God and the truth that burns strong in those moments of hope -- God is faithful!

"Let us hold unswervingly

to the HOPE we profess,

for He who promised

is faithful."

 Hebrews 10:23