Skin care company Philosophy and their many followers boast their product "Hope in a Jar" facial moisturizer. I just love the whole concept of being able to buy "Hope in a Jar." My last few years have been challenging, to say the least, as many friends will testify, and I could really use some "Hope in a Jar." I bought it, slathered it on my dry, parched skin, and waited for the miracle. But guess what. "Hope" was not enough for me. I had to go their next product, "When Hope is Not Enough."
That, I believe, is the epithet of these challenging years: "When Hope is Not Enough." Years when while we were paying two mortgages and two sets of bills my husband was diagnosed with a rare liver disease which will eventually call for a liver transplant. When I suffered multiple orthopedic injuries that pulled me away from work for weeks at a time. When I was surprised with having to have what I call "The Hysterectomy from Hell." When my oldest son was diagnosed with a spine fracture that had slipped out of place and must wear a brace-cast for three months to avoid surgery. When I was rushed screaming to the hospital and had to undergo emergency abdominal surgery to repair an intestinal blockage. These are the years when, truly, hope is NOT enough...
Unless that hope is Jesus. When I was lying alone in my dark hospital room in horrible pain, doctors not knowing what was complicating my recovery, I thought to myself, "This could be it. I could die here alone in this room." But I wasn't alone at all. Jesus was there when my human hope was not enough. He was there in He was there when I returned home feeling terrible with no answers as to why I had so much pain two weeks after surgery, still afraid I might not make it twenty four hours before going back to the hospital. And He was there when I cried out to Him for help, to calm me. He calmed me with the Twenty Third Psalm, The Lord's Prayer, old hymns, new praise music. He is there in the friends who selflessly prepare meals for me and my family, in the friend who came over and helped my husband clean, in my kids who do laundry and wash dishes.
I often wish I could fix everything myself. I want to buy something at the mall that will take care of all the problems. I want "When Hope is Not Enough" because it means I found the solution. But I can't. It is not enough. Only Jesus.
