Hold On to Hope and Joy

Even when there is disappointment or grief, Cathi Kennedy holds on to hope.

For the Jubilee of Hope, our writers reflect on prayer as a source of hope in their lives.

Praying for adult children is a whole new ballgame.

When children are small, parents worry about their health and well-being, and if we are blessed to have healthy children, that means scrapes and bruises and maybe a cast at worst.

The older our children get, the bigger the stakes and the bigger the worries.

Bullying, driving, dating, jobs, sports, the list is so long.

Then they graduate from high school, then college, and suddenly, the whole wide world is swallowing them.

Praying with Hope

I pray for our sons’ health, relationships, jobs, and happiness. But there is one prayer I say repeatedly above all the rest: Lord, I pray they follow You and Your Word always. This is my biggest hope.

We hope our children will be kind and healthy and loved. But there is no way to guarantee this. We must hope and trust and let go. Hope in the Lord’s plan is an everyday choice.

I lay a lot of things at God’s feet. I make decisions, take action, and pray, “Let Your plans for my life be the desire of my heart.” With a grateful heart, I thank Him when things go to (my) plan, and when they don’t, with a begrudging heart, I say, “This isn’t what I want, but I trust You.”

There have been times when I prayed until I couldn’t pray anymore, and it seemed my prayers were unanswered. Through tears, I’ve cried out to God, feeling like he didn’t care.

We are called to rejoice always in the Lord. Always and in all ways. But …

When Joy Seems Elusive, Hope Reveals Itself

When heartbreaking, life-changing, never-will-be-the-same-again grief takes hold — where is the joy? How do we rejoice in the Lord when we can barely take another breath? When the disappointment cuts us to our core? When we see our children struggling? When the thing we’ve been praying for months or years passes us by again? Rejoice always? Even now, Lord?

In those instances, I believe hope precedes joy.

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When the wave of grief pulls us down, when disappointment breaks our hearts, hope will pull us back to joy. Not in a moment, an hour, or a day, but in God’s time, it will manifest from a faraway light in the darkness to the blinding light of God’s love. And then the joy will come. The rejoicing can begin again.

If you are deep in the wave and cannot find joy, look for hope.

We can hold grief in one hand and hope in the other. We can hope for our hearts to be healed, for peace to come, for God’s mercy and grace to pour out on us.

We cannot manifest this out of the air. We cannot, by sheer willpower, rejoice always. In all ways. The Holy Spirit works through us, in us, and for us. His love will turn the grief into hope and the hope into joy. And we will be rejoicing once more. Hold onto hope; don’t let go. Let God love you through it. And let his mercy and peace that surpass our earthly efforts turn it into lasting joy.