When life rides on Hope.

Some days everything rides on Hope.

Days like yesterday and today ride on Hope. Yesterday while I played in the sun with my kids, my friend Holly was clinging to life. Not hers, although it may have felt like it, but that of her newborn son, Thomas. Even as I write this, he's still fighting for his precious life. Baby Thomas was born with anencephaly, a condition in which his brain did not form. They did not know whether they would have a few minutes or maybe even a few hours with him. At this point, Holly and Aaron have been able to know their son for more than 40 miraculous hours. Not sure how much more time is left.

There are times that I get so, so, so mad at this situation. Why, God, oh why, would You allow a baby to be conceived, only to have him die shortly after birth? My heart is so beyond broken for my friend. I have tried to be encouraging to her. But truth be told, I really don't have anything to say. I don't know what she's going through. I cannot come along beside her and comfort her with words like, "I've been there."

While I don't know the full scope of why Thomas was born this way, I still have Hope. I can have Hope during my own life's storms or when I go through another's. I have seen how God works through tragedy in my own past. Seeing God move carries me through my- or someone else's- hardships.

Some days I have to rest in the truth that my life's storm, or another's, is not a surprise to God.
Some days I have to rest in the truth that God will do what God said He'll do.
Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." 
Today, I have to rest in the truth that God loves my friend, her husband, and their newborn beyond their comprehension.
I have to rest in the truth that even in tragedy, God is there.

God is God.

Tragedy hurts. Tragedy makes us feel like we can't breathe. Tragedy makes us feel forgotten. And through it all, God... Is... God. He goes before us and comes up behind us. Some days we can't see Him through our hurt. Some days we can't feel Him move. Some days we don't even want to. But, all in all, no matter what, God is God.