via TJC
“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)
There is a great quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.: “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” I would imagine that everyone who is reading this has experienced finite disappointment. It could be relational or financial, or even the big 3 D’s – death (family), disease or divorce. And while we know that a beautiful heavenly future awaits for all of us which should bring comfort in our pain, how do we wake up each day with an earthly hope in the face of finite disappointment?
I’ll share a personal journey. My wife and I had a son but then really struggled to get pregnant again. Well let me put it more bluntly, we couldn’t get pregnant again. Doctors, treatments, prayer, time….none of it worked. Finite disappointment set in as month after month we got the same empty result. Our vision and hope of a larger family and a sibling for our child began to fade. But here’s the catch and the thing about hope – infinite hope in the God of the universe doesn’t mean we are free from finite disappointment, more often it just means the journey God has for us to take will look different than we ever imagined or initially wanted.
Fast forward. We never could get pregnant again……but tomorrow will be the fifth birthday of our daughter. She is adopted. We got the call from the City of Alexandria that there was a girl born in a local hospital that did not have any parents or family fit to raise her. She has been part of our family ever since.
What I learned and what I want to share brings us to the DBO:
Trust the destination in your GPS (heaven). There will be finite disappointment in the way of traffic, delays, really bad weather at times, road closures and detours – the journey will look different than the way you initially planned the trip. But hope is the fuel that keeps you driving toward the destination. Past victories (identify one) and close mates (identify one) are two sources of that hope fuel. What feels like lost is just a detour, keep driving.
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