Chronic Hope

Marching Up to the Thing You Fear the Most by Adriana Hayes

Adriana Hayes is a freelance illustrator, professor, writer, and speaker who finds joy in helping others discover how God can bring “chronic hope” into their lives. She lives in Brookfield, Wis., with her husband, Chris, and three daughters.

just between us SPRING 2020 42 Visit my sites! chronichopeblog. wordpress.com or madebyadri.com “How, can we trust When you say you will deliver us from All, of this pain, that threatens to take over us Well, this desert’s dry But the ocean may consume And we’re scared, to follow you... ~Lyrics by Ellie Holcomb “Red Sea Road” This song by Ellie Holcomb became my mantra over two years ago, when we started our journey as foster parents. It helped me formulate an answer to one of the most difficult, yet most frequently asked, questions: “How will you give them back [to their biological parents] if and when that time comes?

My answer comes straight out of the Old Testament recordings of God parting the Red Sea and then after Moses’s death, the Jordan River, in order to allow safe passage for His people. In both stories, the Israelites set out on a journey knowing that an impassable body of water lay between them and what God had promised to them.

I’ve found myself chewing on this particular portion…plodding in the dry desert…and what that must have looked like and felt like for these children of God. Did they whisper among themselves, “Is our leader (Moses or Joshua) building a strategy right now on how to cross the water when we get to it? I sure hope so. I have my children and my cattle and those things are too important to leave to chance. Maybe we should try to gather a group to sort out another plan.”

What about how they must have been feeling when they finally reached the water? I’m sure many were feeling too exhausted to even think about continuing. These were large bodies of water. The Jordan River was at flood stage with strong flowing currents. The nation of Israel is estimated to have been over two million people at that point in history. That is a lot of people crossing a wide expanse of ground and would’ve taken weeks for everyone to cross. How did they summon the strength to keep going?

I’ve found myself returning to Josh. 3:15-16, as we get closer to the day we find out if these girls will stay in our family forever. It says, “Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing” (emphasis mine). The reason I keep turning to this verse is because I need to keep reminding myself that God did not reveal His rescue plan until the priest’s feet actually touched the water. He wanted to see that they had faith to walk right up to the seemingly immovable challenge ahead of them and then He showed His mighty power.

Living with chronic health conditions often leads to knowing that daunting waters lie before us: surgeries, treatment plans, and longterm lifestyle changes. It’s tempting

to ask God, while we’re still in the desert, how He’s going to get us across safely on dry ground. In the past 27 months of having these girls in our family, I have cried out to God more times than I can count. I want Him to reveal to me how I will be able to go on if they don’t continue with us.

However, God has remained silent. Yet, His presence has clearly been with me in this season of waiting, just as it was with the Israelites in the form of the cloud of smoke, pillar of fire, daily manna, and water from the rock. It’s been what I’ve needed in order to sustain me each day—nothing more, nothing less. However, He hasn’t provided the answer I think I so desperately need. He’s been showing me that I need to, in faith, march right up to the thing that I fear the most. Then, and only then, will He reveal His plan to me. It may not look like what I want it to, but I can continue on knowing that God will not leave me in the desert forever. He loves us as His children, and He will provide dry ground for us to walk across on. “We will sing, to our souls We won’t bury our hope Where He leads us to go There’s a red sea road When we can’t, see the way He will part the waves And we’ll never walk alone Down a red sea road...” ~Lyrics by Ellie Holcomb “Red Sea Road”

...with My Prayer Life by Elizabeth Murphy

Elizabeth Murphy has been a soughtafter speaker for the last 15 years. She serves on several non-profit boards, teaches Bible studies, and is an author and regular columnist for JBU. She and her husband, Mike, have four sons and three granddaughters. They live in Brookfield, Wis.

Visit my site! espeaks.net My husband and I were in a car accident last spring that resulted in months of physical therapy. Three times a week, all summer long, I worked at trying to get back to the way I was before the accident. Back to the way I was to begin with. I call it the summer of PT, physical therapy, or pain and torture depending on what we were doing each day! The sessions were restorative for my body, but there was a different kind of PT I discovered that is restorative for my soul, my prayer time.

I am an early riser so the time I spend with God is usually before sunrise. I begin by reading the Scriptures using a reading plan that takes me through the entire Bible in a year. I’ve been a Jesus-follower for almost 50 years and have just now realized how helpful it is to read the Bible in a systematic way. Sometimes I explore other resources like Bible versions and commentaries to dig deeper and expand my understanding, then I spend time in prayer. All of this is working well for now but what’s not is the time after I pray. What I do with what I’ve heard, seen, and learned of God.

In my reading, I came to Mark 4:23, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” I have ears but do I hear? Further study led me to The Expositor’s Commentary which says, “There shall be given over and above, not to those who hear, but to those who think on what they hear... the more a man thinks, the more he will understand, and the less a man thinks, the less his power of understanding will become.”

I prayerfully understood this to mean that when I hear God in my

I prayerfully understood this to mean that when I hear God in my prayer time, I need to pay close attention, listen carefully, and keep thinking on it. I do this by listening creatively.

prayer time, I need to pay close attention, listen carefully, and keep thinking on it. I do this by listening creatively. First, by writing down the verses I am attune to and putting them in a place, I will see several times throughout the day. I often need to be reminded over and over what’s been said, (you can ask my husband about this!) and this helps me focus and remember.

The other way I listen is to share insights and understanding with someone else. It’s sort of like talking aloud to myself. Something about the words coming out of my mouth and back into my own ears using my own voice adds additional impact to the words. Writing a note or texting work well here too. I’ve realized that what encourages me, often encourages another and when I feel God’s power, compassion, and care for a situation in my own life, through the study of His Word and prayer, others in need come quickly to mind. Early morning texts are a great way to reach out. I also listen by asking God to show me what these verses/words look like in real life. This changes what I look at and look for as I go about my day. It serves the same purpose as an illustration used in a sermon or a book that make a point come alive. When I pursue the things of God, I find them. My understanding increases and my ability to respond and apply God’s Word grows.

In Genesis 3, it says God was looking for Adam and Eve. He wanted to walk with them in the cool of the day giving the impression this was a custom of His, something He did regularly. I don’t know what those walks looked like, but I like to imagine there was understanding, sharing, caring, and maybe even laughing. This is the way it was to begin with and when I pay attention to the time after prayer, and listen creatively to God, I get a glimpse of the garden and it is well with my prayer time.