When Hope Holds You Tight

Welcome to the Overflow! Whether you’re an old friend or a new one, I’m glad you’re here. This is a place where faith is spilled and souls are filled. I hope you’ll make yourself at home and stay a while.  If you like what you find, feel free to sign up on the side bar to subscribe to my blog, and I’ll send a trickle of inspiration to your in-box now and then.

Better yet, we could meet face to face!  I’m scheduling speaking engagements for summer and fall 2019 & for all of 2020.  I’d be delighted to bring a message of encouragement to a ministry event near you. (If you’d like to know more, contact me at overflow@aliciabruxvoort.net)

Today I’m over at Proverbs 31 talking about that place where our desperation and God’s inspiration meet. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, you can find it here.  But before you go, I’d love to tell you what I learned from a little girl, a season of struggle, and a tattered children’s Bible….

I  remember that long ago morning when I tiptoed into my daughter’s room and saw something that will be forever etched in my memory.

My third born had been in a sleepless season of struggle. She couldn’t articulate what was wrong, and I couldn’t figure out how to make it right. But night after night, she would lie in her bottom bunk and cry. When the moon rose high, her fears rose, too. And as starlight streamed through her window, a slew of worries waltzed through her mind.

My husband and I were befuddled. We’d sought wise counsel and asked for prayer. We’d established soothing bedtime routines and enforced healthy eating habits. We’d eliminated screen time and added an extra helping of bedtime stories. But no amount of attentiveness or care seemed to change our five-year-old’s nighttime fitfulness. 

As the nights grew long and my strength grew thin, I asked the Lord for wisdom. He knew the depths of my daughter’s heart and the depths of my own desperation. And I knew in His presence there is peace (Acts 10:36). 

Let her know you’re here, Father, I pleaded. Let her know she’s held.

Many nights as I lay awake  beside my girl, I found myself whispering God’s Word above the midnight din. Sometimes it was a verse I’d memorized long ago in a Sunday School classroom with baby bear chairs and a felt-board Jesus. Other times it was a truth from scripture that was wrapped in a worship song or a treasured promise that I’d once scribbled on a post-it note. Whatever wisp of truth rose from my heart to my head, I promptly spoke it aloud as a prayer.

I didn’t know if my daughter was listening as she swayed between whimpers and sleep, but I did know this–when I spoke God’s Word into the darkness, a sliver of light spilled into the discouraged places of my soul.

I felt like I could breathe. I felt like Hope could breathe.

One night as I was murmuring God’s word above my sleepless girl’s cries, snippets of the first chapter of John’s gospel began to roll through my mind.

“The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
    God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
    in readiness for God from day one…” 

“The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
    the one-of-a-kind glory,
    like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
    true from start to finish.” (John 1, 5 &:14)

And, suddenly, I realized why God’s Word had become my lifeline on those long, dark nights.

Jesus is the Word wrapped in flesh, the resounding Amen to every promise of God (2 Corinthians 1:20)

And when we speak the truth of scripture aloud, we invite the Living Word into our circumstances. We create space for Christ to roam and reign wherever we are–huddled in a bottom bunk or standing on a mountain top.

And as Jesus steps into our moments, our moments become tinged with hope.

 It’s simple, yet stunning–

God’s word isn’t just a prescription for Hope; it’s the living, breathing Presence of Hope. 

Jesus is Hope in our nights. Hope in our days. Hope in our questions and Hope in our praise.

That’s what I was learning in my sleepless season with my five-year-old. But better yet, she was learning it, too.

Maybe that’s why I’ll never forget the morning I tiptoed into my little girl’s bedroom after another trying night. It had just been an hour since I’d last held her as she cried, and I was hoping to convince her to stay in bed a bit longer while I began my day with a cup fo coffee and my prayer journal.

But when I looked closely in that bottom bunk, I realized my daughter was curled up in a sleeping ball of limbs and snores. Her fuzzy pink blanket was wrapped around her legs and her soft round arms were wrapped around her tattered and treasured children’s Bible.

I laughed with relief and joy as I watched her sleep peacefully that morning, hugging the Word of God like she’d once cuddled her favorite teddy bear.  No tears. No cries. No yelps. No worries.

I exhaled a sigh of gratitude and bent low to kiss my little girl’s cheek.

And as the first streaks of dawn began to paint the horizon beyond the window a winsome shade of pink, my daughter opened a quivering eyelid and glanced my way.

“Why are you sleeping with your Bible?” I asked as I hurried to her side and pulled the covers to her chin.

“I’m just holding on to Jesus,” she murmured with a sleepy yawn.

My heart swelled and the tears in my eyes welled.

And my daughter drifted off to sleep once more with her pink blanket, her tattered Bible, and the Hope Who holds her tight.

 

Thanks for choosing to linger here today, friends. We know you’ve got many places you could be and lots of things you could be doing, and we’re grateful to share a moment with you. If you’d like to grab a copy of my free printable called Hanging onto Hope When You’re Hanging By a Thread, just click on the link below.  It’s a simple resource packed with verses from the Bible that are intended to meet you in your times of trial Hope it encourages you to call on Jesus and experience His presence in the midst of your moments.

And before you go, we’d love to hear how the Word of God has given you hope lately. Or let us know how we can best pray for you. Happy May Day!

Hanging onto the Word When You’re Hanging By A Thread