Longing for MotherhoodExemplo

Day Ten – We Have This Hope!

It’s so easy to place our hope in a longed-for baby. When this longing is unfulfilled, it feels too hard to be hopeful. How can we regain hope? How do we walk through seasons of sorrow, through childless days and years, and refuse to give up hope?

It’s helpful to distinguish between worldly hope and the supernatural hope God provides. When the world hopes, it is often self-serving. Worldly hope is more of a wish than an actual, deeply rooted hope. We might express temporal, worldly hope with statements such as, “I hope I find a parking spot at the grocery store,” or “I hope my friends remember my birthday.” While those aren’t bad things per se, we have to see them for what they are: wishes for temporary pleasures or benefis. 

Theologian R. C. Sproul says, “Hope is not simply a wish . . . rather, it is that which latches on to the certainty of the promises of the future that God has made.” While it’s perfectly natural to wish to get pregnant or to be a mother, we must recognize that those outcomes won’t in themselves satisfy our souls. When discussing the hope that will last—our eternal, sustaining hope—it’s helpful to substitute the word “hope” with the word “know”. This exercise helps ensure I’m not hoping in something temporal, but that my hope is deeply rooted in what I know to be true of God. The following statements show the true hope that flows from our faith in Christ:

I know the Lord will be faithful.

I know this trial isn’t the end of my story. 

I know the Lord loves me. 

I know the Lord won’t forsake me, even in my hardest season. 

I know the Lord sees me when I cry.

Real hope is rooted in God, and because God never changes, neither will our source of hope. 

Rest in the fact that you have an eternal hope!

 If you enjoyed this 10-day devotional reading plan, I hope you’ll check out my new book  Longing for Motherhood: Holding On to Hope in the Midst if Childlessness .