Guest blogger Maggi Gale shares a word of hope for a future and a fortress for our children with special needs. Enjoy!

Keep Hoping

Be careful what you hope for! There are times though, that it’s even more important to be careful to keep hoping than to be careful what you hope for!

So what are you hoping for?
Hoping for the day he will come home from hospital…
Hoping the nightmares will stop…
Hoping for her to go to a “normal” school…

Or, as in the case of our friends whose daughter has been diagnosed with pervasive refusal syndrome, hoping for her to be willing and able to start living her life again.

We recently visited a fort, surrounded by the craggy Hajar mountains, bleak and foreboding in the relentless Arabian heat. Built in the late eighteenth century, the thick mud brick and stone walls made it a secure retreat. Standing on the lookout, I could almost hear the cry of the enemy advancing and see the arrows being fired through angled slat windows.

This fortress was a place of security.

The windows were too narrow to allow ammunition inwards. Here, there was no need to fear. A confined place, but one of safety.

Comfortable?
Not at all.
A place to wait for danger to pass.
A place essential for survival.

Zachariah speaks of hope as a fortress. “Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.”

If hope is a fortress, it’s one we can choose to retreat to by holding onto the promises that God has spoken to us. To confine ourselves within the framework of His word and to an awareness that despite every, everything, there is a loving God.

Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
 so great is his unfailing love.
 He does not willingly bring affliction
 or grief to anyone.

The alternative to hope is as hostile as the Hajar mountains.
Today, be careful that you keep hoping.

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