They say, everything changes when you lose someone you love.
Surely, it does. Trust me, I know.
This year, the advent season has been very special to my family as it brought a renewed hope to us. If you have been following our stories on Scribbles and Confessions, you would know by now that my dad passed away on March 10, very unexpectedly. According to my husband, my dad had one of the top places in my lost of favourite people; he was someone who I looked up to for guidance, both for worldly and spiritual matters. He was my go-to person, my confidante—a person I trusted my life with, someone I knew would help me and love me unconditionally for who I am and who I am not. My earthly father emulated my Heavenly Father—that made his loss even more painful. Who do I run to for advice? Who should I ask for help? —it was extremely hard for me to digest the fact that my father was no more.
It felt like a part of me left when he left for his Heavenly abode.
I am so thankful to God for all the people He placed around me to comfort, love, pray for me and with me—my dear husband Joel, my loving children Judah and Sairah, my friends who called multiple times to check on me and pray for me. All of them made sure that I got strengthened in the Lord every day. I felt a renewed hope and I firmly believe that it was those prayers that sustained me and filled me with reassurance and expectancy in God; the deep understanding that He holds my tomorrow and that I need not worry or be anxious of anything.
Despite being a Christian for over 36 years, I never felt this kind of hope—it was a refreshing wind of change, a new meaning to living. Honestly, I was a person who was scared of death; even the idea of it. But something shifted inside of me after my father’s death. I felt like the fear dissolved; death did not scare me anymore. I was filled with the hope of eternal life; the reassurance that I would one day see my earthly father on that beautiful shore.
This hope of heaven filled me. No, it was not wishful thinking or blind optimism but the deep understanding of the promise of eternal life, the trust that God holds everything that is to come and the reality of heaven.
I learned an important lesson during this phase, the hard way, might I add— “never link hope to an outcome!” My journey through this season of turmoil taught me that the void and disappointment I felt was because my hope was misplaced. When that happens, one can have a dearth of it—a state of hopelessness. And no, I am not talking about the hope that the world talks about but the hope in Christ, the kind that is mentioned in the Scriptures. Biblical hope is anchored in only one person—God. When the Heavenly Father becomes our anchor, nothing (not the wildest storms) can shake us. Our problems, troubles, pain, hurts—none of these break us when our hope is in God and His sovereignty. And it is this understanding that gives us the strength to endure.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
-Hebrews 12:1-2
I love how verse 2 reminds us that the only way we can run our race is by fixing our eyes on Jesus—staying focussed on Him alone for He is the founder (the One who began a good work in us) and perfecter (the One who keeps mending and directing us) of our faith. From His example, we learn how He was filled with the hope of heaven which helped Him endure the scoffs, scornful words and actions, rejection, hurt, pain and shame at the cross of Calvary. And just like Jesus, we can endure holding onto that divine hope of heaven.
In this advent season, I am so grateful for the birth of Jesus, His death and resurrection. This year taught me that death is merely a doorway to a world way more beautiful and wonderful than where we are now—a place with unending joy. And this pain of separation and loss is but for a moment, temporary for a new season lies ahead. Soon and very soon, we would be able to see our Saviour’s face and all the other saints who were once with us on earth—just thinking about it fills me with awe. Oh, what a glorious day it would be.
I cannot help but mention another product of this season in the valley—Ela Koinonia. God graciously gave me and the team strength, week after week, to endure, to be hopeful and to bring the good news of hope to others. The kind of feedback and response we got has been so encouraging. With thousands of readers in the last six months, we strongly believe that it is God who worked in us and through us with our stories to impact those around us—the testimonies we heard from our readers are nothing less than amazing.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might, He increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
-Isaiah 40: 29-31
I urge you to WALK! Let us walk together in the hope of God—chin up, eyes on the Lord. As the Bible says, “We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength” (Philippians 4:13).
I am not sure if have lost someone or praying for someone at the hospital for healing and recovery, a terrible diagnosis, hurt, toxic relationships—whatever it is, let me remind you today on this Christmas eve that YOU and I CAN FIND HOPE AGAIN. God wants to restore your sense of hope and give you a fresh dose of it, as He did for me. May the hope of God and His eternal life be the anchor for all of us, for all our days. My prayer for you today is from Romans 15:13
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Much strength, love, and, most of all, hope to you and your beautiful families this Christmas season and for 2022.
Consider this:
The Advent story is one that is filled with hope because it chronicles the coming of the One who is hope—Jesus. For we were separated from God because of sin. But He came for us so that we may have access to God. Thus, He alone is the source of our hope:
H– He lives. We can face tomorrow because He lives. Jesus is the only one we should look up to—the author and finisher of our faith.
O– Omnipresent God sees, hears, and knows every detail of our lives. Our Father God is ever-present and that is why the Psalmist says in Psalms 139:7-12
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me; Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
P– Purpose. God has a plan and purpose for everything that happens in our lives. Know that He is in control. Nothing that happens to us is a surprise to our Heavenly Father.
E– Eternity is a real deal. Like Jesus, let us fix our eyes on the reality of heaven and the hope of eternity—even through our struggles.