3 Ways I’m Discovering Hope in this Season of Life
Hope seems like something quaint, almost obsolete in today’s world.
My own experience of hope is slugging through the quicksand while it looks like the world is burning around us.
But for the Christian, hope is essential so that we can persevere and push through the circumstances of our own life so that, one day, we may be at home with Jesus forever.
In my own season of life, married and working full time with littles, it’s difficult to stop and truly embrace the things giving me hope. “I don’t have time for such luxuries,” I practically scoff to myself, while serving dinner, wiping a runny nose, and kissing the boo-boos of my twins.
But it’s EXACTLY those moments that I do need to hold on to hope. Raising little ones is serious business, and the utter dependence of small children can make a mom’s world seem like it is closing in on itself.
Mary Beth Keenan, @mb_keenan.15
Here are three ways I’m embracing hope among being a mom to littles:
1. Embracing the sweetness.
While loving how cute and little they are, they do grow up. Eventually, they aren’t as helplessly dependent on Mom and Dad. While that’s the good and natural order of things, it can leave parents with a bit of sadness as they long for the days of baby cuddles and coos.
Appreciating the time that has been put before us here and now is one way I find hope in the ordinary days of life. Eventually, today will be long gone. Embracing here and now, while longing for the good things of the future, is how we “Live Today Well.”
2. Seeing progress in development.
One thing that I didn’t anticipate about motherhood was the possibility of being a mother to a child with special needs. Yet that is exactly where I find myself. When it became apparent that there were some atypical signs and symptoms for one of my twins at just a few months old, I admit that I panicked.
I feared what might be in the future for him. Would he grow up to live a normal life? What would his childhood look like? What helps will he need in education, in work, in daily life?
While much of my son’s future is still a question mark, I find hope through the progress he is making in his development. I am so grateful for a program like Early Intervention, which fosters new possibilities while helping children with special needs meet developmental milestones. I now face my son’s future with confidence, and I hope that as he matures, I can instill the same confidence about life into him.
3. I am more capable than I think I am.
One thing that complicates my life more than normal is that of my husband’s out of town job. He is out of town during the weekdays. That means that I am working full time and, while the children attend daycare, I am solely responsible for them during the week.
When my husband first accepted the job, I was terrified of being responsible for two little ones all on my own. But I know many great single parents have had to do the same thing under less ideal circumstances than me, and this was how I slowly began to develop my confidence in my capabilities. I must be very organized, have a plan for each day, and make sure I’m using my time efficiently. But as time goes on, I see that I can do things that I never would have thought I could accomplish without another parent present.
I find hope in knowing that if God has brought our family into a situation, he will give us the grace to endure the situation- and the creativity to do seemingly impossible things.
In my current season of life, it’s easy to have “tunnel vision” and “go through the motions” just to get through the day. But that isn’t what the Lord wants for us. He wants us to desire a future with joy and wonder and instill in us hope for both our Earthly and Heavenly lives.
I am so thankful to God that he has given me hope amid ordinary life. I have no doubt that he desires to give all of us hope amid whatever season we find ourselves.
Ask God for the grace to have hope- and then see where he is leading you to hope in the everyday.
Meet Mary Thissen
Mary Thissen is currently living in a season of transition. Missouri-born and bred, she recently moved back to Champaign, Illinois (where her heart resides) from Northwest Minnesota, with her family. She works as a Healthcare Data Analyst for a local healthcare system. After four pregnancy losses, she welcomed her miracle twin boys in 2020.
Mary's dream is to write about her story of loss and how God revealed himself to her in the subtle miracles encountered in everyday life. Mary is currently a work in progress, working to increase her patience by relying on the grace of God and finding humor in the ordinary events of life.