The Baby Dress

As I put the finishing touches on an infant dress for my granddaughter, the tears overwhelm me.  Each tiny stitch, made with love, draws out strong emotions.  While I am excited to have a precious new child to love, my thoughts continue to veer into sadness.

I cry out to God.  “I don’t want to see my granddaughter in just this dress Lord, I want to see her in her wedding dress too.  Will that ever happen?”  The hurt and pain rush over me and it is hard to stop the flow of uncertainty and grief.

When the biopsy shows difficult results, it is challenging to have hope.  The devil loves throwing around the negative news, smashing it into our consciousness.  He beats at us with all the nasty possibilities, desperately trying to destroy our hope in the future and our present well-being.  

Satan delights in striking us when we are down. Whether it’s a bad health diagnosis, a job loss, a marriage breakup, or other life challenge, he works overtime to try to get us to focus on the negative aspects of the situation.  His main objective is to destroy any hope in us.

I sure fall for his game way too often.  I let all the what ifs of cancer drown out my today.  That’s really not the best way to handle the matter.  Sure, we have to deal with grief and process it in order to heal.  Trouble arises when we get mired in it and can’t find a way to hope.

It is a mind game.  Satan plays it well, but ultimately Jesus is the victor.  We do not have hope if we draw only from the well of past or present unpleasant circumstances.  I know that I am in trouble when I dwell on negative thoughts and bad past experiences.  

As I pack the little dress into its gift box, I work to change my thought patterns.  I give myself a pep talk and convince myself that all this cancer stuff will blow over and, of course, I will see my granddaughter grow up.

While it is good to have a positive attitude and it is a good indicator of well-being and a step forward; I am missing something in the process of dealing with the barbs of the enemy.

I cannot win this mind game alone.  Left to my own devices, I will fall – again and again.  Yes, I need a positive mindset.  But…I need God in that mindset.  As I look to Him, then I am strong enough to make it through the trials and have hope that my future will be better.  

No one of us knows if we have 3 days, 3 months, or 30 years left on this earth.  There are absolutely no guarantees that believers in Christ will have an easy road or a long earthly life.  The good news is – we have hope in the future.  Trusting in Christ as our Lord and Saviour means that we have the assurance of eternal life in heaven with Him.  That is our ultimate hope.

While I have been granted a health reprieve for now, I still don’t know if I will see my granddaughter grow up.  There are other things that might end my earthly life at any stage.  If I focus on all those what ifs, I destroy my today. 

One of the main things I have learned throughout these months of health uncertainty is that I want to live each day to the fullest and to use my life in God’s service.  I want to live with joy and hope and the peace that comes only from my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  

Yes, today’s outlook for you might be terrible.  The only way to turn that around is to trust in God to deliver you from whatever afflicts you; remembering that sometimes He does that by removing the affliction, but other times He simply walks you through the dark shadows on the way to His marvelous light.  

Hold fast to Him as He cares so very deeply for you and He doesn’t want you to stumble.  When the path gets rocky and you wonder if you will ever get through it, remember that God is always there.  

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