Hope Changes Everything

By Shelley Hendrix, Church4Chicks

It was 11 a.m. Oct. 31, 2010. Our family was in church and looking forward to a fun afternoon and evening with our extended family. We have a tradition where I make a bunch of yummy chili and all the fixins' (as we say in Georgia) so that we can enjoy the time with the kids, the costumes, and of course, the candy.

My Macey Girl (daughter) is especially fond of this tradition. 

We could never have anticipated how much our lives would change that day. We went from fun and celebration into a nightmare from which we could not wake up.

You know, while many today want to paint the enemy of our souls as a myth, I trust God's word which tells me that he is a real being and truly is like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour; and that he only shows up in a person's life with his agenda to steal, to kill, and to destroy. (See I Peter 5:8; John 10:10a)

With that said, on that Sunday afternoon, my Macey was attacked by two different teenage boys while walking home from a friend's house. This happened in broad daylight in a very public part of the neighborhood. What she went through for the next hour is horrific, but I want to be quick to say, she fought and she fought hard. What the first attacker wanted to accomplish, he was unable to do because my daughter fought with everything in her. Thankfully, we found her in time before they could gang up on her together.

The other night she said, "Momma, I could tell God was with me the whole time." I said, "Really? How could you tell honey?" And she said, "He was talking to me the whole time." She had words telling her to fight, telling her she wasn't alone, telling her she didn't have to let this kid do this to her-it was because her Father was with her. He walks through the fire with His children.

We filed the appropriate reports and surrounded Macey with support. The boys confessed to the charges. I reminded her that she is a hero to girls who don't even know her because she has kept them from being attacked-she fought back and she told us so we could stand with her to fight this battle alongside her. She is a hero to me!

You know, Jesus was not kidding when he told us we would experience tribulation in this world. Boy, do we ever! But He also wasn't kidding when he told us to "be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (See John 16:33) But you know what else he said? He told us that he was letting us know these things so that we could have peace. I've experienced many times an internal peace when an external peace was not within my reach. This was certainly one of those times.

And, I'll tell you this: After hearing how hard my baby girl fought off that huge teenage boy and then the next one who came after her, I have never been more inspired to fight the REAL enemy than I am right now!

Remembering that "Sometimes God allows the very thing He hates in order to bring about the very thing He loves." (Joni Eareckson Tada)

When life throws us a curve ball such as the one we dealt with last year, it's so easy to get our focus off of God's character as we try to come to terms with His ways. Life doesn't necessarily make sense. Life is most certainly not fair. I don't know why God allowed my daughter to be wounded in the way that she was. I may never understand it fully. But this I do know. God is always, always, always good. And this reality (which is far more concrete than a wish, a desire, or a belief) gives me incredible HOPE. 

I can Hang Onto Promises Eternal because of the ONE who makes and keeps those promises! 

"Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise."Hebrews 10:23 (NLT)

I don't know what you're experiencing in this season in your life. You may be in a time of celebration with smooth sailing. Those times are awesome! Enjoy! But you may be, like many today, in a season that brings with it great challenge, confusion, and a pull downward. But remember...

Even when life gets dark and chaotic, we can trust the One who is never in the dark!