I began a conversation with Ted last night with the words, "I need to tell you something before you read it on my blog." (Ha! I promise you we really do have great communication skills) "Yes, that would probably be a good thing," he said. I told him about my feelings towards 'not getting our hopes up' and explained that I NEEDED to let my hopes get up because I didn't have anything else. After we talked about it, he completely agreed and was on board with my new attitude of "hope despite heartache".
The more we talked, the more I realized that I need to be clinging to hope like it's my life support. Like it's the last parachute out of the falling plane. I need to let myself rejoice when a pharmacy miraculously has the drug I need, an insurance claim finally get sorted out, or my bloodwork comes back with great results. Those are are all great victories and deserve their joy and the hope that follows. Then I said to Ted, "why can't we get our hopes up? You would never tell me not to get my love up. Or not to get my faith up."
And that's exactly right-faith, hope, and love are all in the same boat. We all know Corinthians 13. We would never supress feelings of love or the gift of faith because we recognize that these are beautiful wonderful gifts that God wishes to bestow on us. When it comes to hope, though, we hesistate. We don't want to hope too much or get our hopes too high. We fear it might come back to bite us. But we would never say that about faith or love. We can NEVER love to much or have too much faith. So, my deductive reasoning tells me that we can NEVER have too much hope either.
So here's to hope. And lots of it. We can't have too much-so let's ask God for the maximum dosage. Yes, there will be those of us who will never conceive. Those who can never adopt or foster. And I might be in all of those categories. But we don't know that yet-because there is still hope.
Sidenote: I really love my new phrase of "hope despite heartache". I think I need to tape that to my dashboard or bathroom mirror or something. If I didn't already have a blog-I think I would make that my title. But I couldn't diss Mary like that, so my title will have to stay.
Hope Despite Heartache... that is fantastic phrase. And there is a lot to hope for! Praying for you guys!
ReplyDeleteWhat an encouraging post! I love the connection you remind us of with Faith, Hope and Love. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWe have been TTC for almost 8 years. When we did get pregnant & sadly miscarry 2 years ago, we named our little one Hope because our little miracle was a reminder and gift of Hope!
"And hope does not disappoint, for God had poured out His love into our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit." Roman 5:5
Thanks again ~ I am hoping with you!
Yes, hope might be my favorite theological virtue...but it is a tricky thing though, because our hope must always remain in the Lord. That His Will, whatever it may be, is what will truly make us happy, even if it is hard. When we start putting our hope in things of the world, or even our own plans, we will ultimately be disapointed. So yes, hope away! Trust in Jesus with humble abandonment! :)
ReplyDeleteHope in Him: As weird as this is to think, I have actually thought about naming my child Hope if I ever miscarry for that exact same reason. I'm sorry you lost her.
ReplyDeletelowly: Thanks for reminding me to only hope in the LORD! I wouldn't want to leave that part out.
I love this post and have never even made that connection with how we limit hope and not faith and love. A great reminder for the realist in me! I love getting to talk to you candidly today! Feel free to post what we talked about and get other's input. I am def not the authority, though sometimes I seem to think so and need to be taken down a notch. :) It is always good to bounce things off multiple folks and you have a very very educated audience here! I am particularly interested in how many had a clotting panel and then tested pos for something...
ReplyDeleteWell said!! Why have I never thought of this before? You're right! I would never say, don't get your faith up. Eureka!! :-)
ReplyDeleteWow, great post. The part about how we wouldn't want to limit faith or love, but we try to limit hope is so amazing. "Hope despite heartache" is something I need to write somewhere too.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post Kaitlin!!! I have dubbed my guardian angel "Hope" because it is the virtue I most struggle with. You are spot on here!!!
ReplyDeleteI love it!
ReplyDeleteAnd ya know, even if we cannot conceive, adopt or foster, there is STILL reason to hope. ALWAYS.
This post is wonderful! Glad to hear you smile!!!
ReplyDeletehey, i've been reading your blog lately and i just wanted to say that i've had this EXACT same conversation with my husband in the past. hope seems like all we have sometimes after month after month of heartache. and often the opposite of hope seems like despair (which is of the devil, i've heard so many times before).
ReplyDeletei guess i just have this to offer. the thing about hope is that we can hope in OUR desires all we want, but that may not be what God has planned, so then where does it leave us? I'm trying (note *TRYING*) to have hope in God and God's plan, and know that God will not leave me in despair. that hope can't necessarily end on a child from my womb, but i do hope for child and for a love filled life. i don't know. it sounds so much easier said than done.
sorry, i didn't read the other comments, so didn't mean to pound the point home!
ReplyDeleteJust BEAUTIFUL. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou're my inspiration these days. "Hope despite heartache" needs to become my mantra.
ReplyDeleteI love your new phrase and it fits you perfectly. Loved Lowly's comment, too. I can lose sight of that part and need to be reminded.
ReplyDeleteHope is God Himself! ;) It's a great phrase!!! I love it!
ReplyDeleteIt is so easy to sway, but I'm not going to let myself....And I started to yesterday and then I started to pray and forgot about being scared.... ;)
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Thanks for spreading the hope - it is needed all around us!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful as always Kaitlin! Your last two posts have really helped to lift my spirits. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI agree! You have lifted my spirits too! I think I'm going to tape that quote to my mirror as well! :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post! I think your deductive reasoning is sound. We should have as much faith, charity and hope (in the Lord of course) as we can manage. My dh sometimes will advise me "not to get my hopes up" and now I know how I'll respond. :)
ReplyDeleteHope despite heartache...I love it! I'm usually the one who is ready to fling hope out the window prematurely...it's my DH that is always "daring me to hope".
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this post! It is just what I needed to hear. It seems, that even when something goes well sometimes, I have fear that it won't stay that way, so I don't want to "get my hopes up", but you are so right!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this! God bless you.