There is always Hope. Those were the words my dear friend Karisse lived by during her ten-year battle with cancer. Diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma in her mid-twenties she miraculously survived and entered remission, only to later fight two brain tumors, breast cancer, and continued skin cancer scares. She went through a carousel of doctor’s offices and hospitals; getting scans; and undergoing multiple surgeries. It’s hardly believable that during this time she also lost her mom to cancer. How can a person endure all of this, year after year, and still cling to hope? Yet cling she did, fervently, and without fail!
When we think of the word hope, it often seems to be in noun form: something we have or something we need to attain. We are told to ‘hold on to hope’ during hard times. As we enter this season of Advent, of waiting, I’m looking at hope in its verb form: to want something to happen. As we wait, as we anticipate, as we prepare, we walk in hope of our coming-again King. Hope is not simply something to hold, or a spiritual souvenir we put on our shelf, it is an action, a habit to live in each day.
Karisse taught me to hope. In the time after her death, it would have been easy to abandon hope. My belief in God was not under question: I knew I would always choose to believe in God’s goodness—that was a lesson I learned long ago. But to hope in Him, to look past the dark and painful, and wait for the light, was something I had to fight for—and I did because Karisse was proof that hope existed.
She wrote this: "Suffering is pain without hope. Wondering if there is light at the end of the tunnel. Wondering if the future will be as dark as the present. It is being in pain and wondering if you have been forgotten and if God has left you behind. A Redeemer reminds us that even in the midst of pain, there is hope; there is a future. A price has been paid to remind us that there is hope. Even in the midst of pain-His hope becomes our hope."
I will be forever grateful for Karisse’ gift of friendship. Our heavenly reunion is going to be quite the good time! We all know there is pain in life, and this year has thrown us for a loop! Yet, we don’t have to suffer in it. As we enter this season of Advent, let’s focus on hope together. We, the Body of Christ, the Church, can model hope for a weary world. Whether you are familiar with Advent, or trying out the practice for the first time, I pray that you are able to sense the Hope of Jesus in a new way.
I leave you with this final encouragement from the Scripture, “With minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.” 1 Peter 1:13
Tags: christmas, hope, advent, suffering
