Cancer Files: My Hope Ring

I have been in awe at the way that I have seen God in the details of this situation.  Back in the 90's -days when we were praying for children and asking God to reveal his plan for us, I was in the store and saw these Faith, Hope, and Love rings.  I was drawn to the Hope ring at the time because I had begun to feel a new hope in our struggle with infertility.  I don't know how to explain how I knew other than God gave me a peace I hadn't had before that I would one day be a mother.  I trusted at that time, and on that day I purchased this ring to wear as a reminder of that during times of discouragement.

Now skip ahead to 2013.  It was a rough winter this year.  I found myself in the blue area a lot more than I would have wanted to be.  It was during the cold spring months when we were wondering if a real spring would ever come that I started getting bogged down in the schedule driven life that we had begun to lead.  I was hearing words coming out of the mouths of my children that I didn't teach them, and attitudes that I was not going to live with another 10-15 years under this roof.  It seemed like I had lost control and I feared at times that I didn't care.

All of the years of praying and hoping for this family started to lose the "miracle" feel.  After all, I started this blog to document the miracle that we have been blessed with in the lives of our children and how God has so graciously put our family together.  Nothing seemed that special anymore, I wasn't focusing on the important things.  That is when I found my hope ring in my jewelry box.  I put it on and remembered that promise, I remembered that this is the miracle.  And my focus has changed.  If we so enjoy the times we spend together here on this earth, how much more wonderful will it be together in heaven?  Our focus has become too much on the immediate and not the eternal.

Spring has passed and now summer is here.  We are going to the pool, we are playing with friends, we are spending a little too much time on video games on those rainy days.  And, I am still wearing my hope ring.  It hit me how God had prepared me for this by pulling out my hope ring.  What is it that I see all over the women's center when I go to my appointments?  Pink ribbons and the word HOPE.  In the ordinary life, and the breast cancer journey, hope is all around us, and our hope is in Him!