There Once Was a Girl... (Part II)

If you haven't read Part 1 yet, I encourage you to click here.  It'll just make more sense that way. :)

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The next day was an already scheduled doctor’s appointment where the news was confirmed.  It was true, the girl was 4 weeks along.  She decided she would wait until after her college graduation to tell her family because she didn’t want them to be distracted with the news.  Her mom, with God-given instinct, immediately drove to see her daughter within hours of that doctor’s appointment when the girl wouldn’t answer her phone.  As soon as the girl saw her mom, she knew she couldn’t keep this from her, so she broke down and told her mom the news.  Her mom, who loved her so much, assured her everything was going to be ok, and the girl trusted her, and it helped her keep hope.

Her mom told the girl she needed to immediately tell her dad the news.  So, her mom drove the girl to her dad’s house and they sat down as she told them.  They listened to her, and they hugged her, and they told her everything was going to be ok.  She believed them, and it helped her keep hope.

She went on to graduate from her university, seeing the days of her sorority and as president of the public relations student society seemingly so far in the past, with much uncertainty and fear in her future.  How were people going to treat her?  What would they say behind her back?  How many people would turn their backs on her because of the disorder of events taking place?  Then she remembered, there was one who would never turn His back on her, and it helped her keep hope.

The girl and the boy went through the motions of telling all the close people in their lives what was going on.  They made plans to get married, sought out premarital counseling, but more importantly, they prayed.  They wanted to do what was right, not what others thought was right, but what was truly right.  There were ups and downs along the way, but they got by the best they knew how, and within 4 months planned a beautiful wedding day (with much help from their loved ones).  Despite the uncertainty that occasionally continued to pop up, the boy and the girl knew God could would do great things in their life, and it helped them keep hope. 

The boy landed a great job which required the newlyweds to move about 8 hours away from their family.  They started building their lives together in a new place, just the two of them.  It was hard being away from family, but they knew this was where they needed to be to learn how to completely rely on each other instead of their families.  They prepared themselves and their one bedroom apartment for the baby on the way and continued to trust God, and it helped them keep hope.

Then, one morning the girl woke up early and knew something was happening.  This was it - the baby was here.  The couple jumped in the car and flew to the hospital.  Ten hours later they were holding their beautiful baby boy.  When they looked in his eyes, there was no doubt, they knew they had hope.

Months went by, the baby boy grew, and so it seemed everything else did too - their faith, their marriage, and their joy.  Before long, they were celebrating their first wedding anniversary and soon after were expecting their second baby.  They soon bought their first home where they brought home their second baby.  Life seemed to be as bright as their sweet newborn's eyes, which made it easy for the family to keep hope.

Soon after the birth of the second baby, the couple experienced the unexpected loss of a loved one.  It was hard for them as they saw the full circle of life flash before them in a matter of days.  There was sadness, frustration, confusion, and even doubts.  The pain was hard, but they tried to persevere and cling to their faith, and it helped them keep hope.

A few months later, the boy, now a husband, father, and leader of the family, got a promotion in his job which meant the family would be moving once again to a new place where they knew no one.  Although, it wasn't home, they were closer to family, which was comforting and helped them keep hope.

And, as you have probably guessed, here I am now, trying to keep hope, but not only keeping it for myself, but sharing it with others.

My life has been so blessed, that even when I strayed and made poor decisions, God took it and gave me the most wonderful blessings I could ever desire, but that doesn't mean the road was easy.  In fact, it has been a very rocky road (Don't you wish I was talking about ice cream?) with many speed bumps along the way, and, I'm pretty sure I'm not alone on this one.  Maybe your potholes and speed bumps (hurts, pains, and bad decisions) weren't the same as mine, or maybe they were, but either way, I hope you know you're not alone.

We each have our own daily grind, but let's try and make the best of it, learn from it, and glorify God through it.

How about we do it together?

There Once Was a Girl... (Part I)

There once was a girl I knew, full of innocence and curiosity.  She had many questions and filled her time with imagination and creativity.   Days were spent in the warm Georgia sun with the smell of Grandma’s flowers and fresh peaches on the tree that grew right beside the array of veggies that sprouted in Grandpa's garden.  Hours were spent playing with dolls and barbies who needed to go to the hair salon or local diner to be taken care of.  Minutes upon minutes were spent singing and dancing and dreaming up visions of how she would entertain crowds one day – and this little girl did it to the fullest of her imagination.

She was blessed to have an amazingly loving family, and in her big, brown eyes, they were perfect.  Sure, there were things this little girl would have changed at the time, like having her daddy live in the same house instead of 5 hours away, or having Mommy able to make it to every single cheerleading occasion or basketball game instead of having to work, but as many times as those prayers might have been prayed, the little girl knew she was loved 100 times more than that by her people, and it helped her keep hope.

Each time Daddy made the long drive for a birthday or to take her trick-or-treating on Halloween she felt the deep love and pride he had in her.  Each time Mommy took her to a special breakfast or on a girl's day out to the mall and movies, she knew Mommy's love was unending.  This made the little girl feel safe and happy, and it helped her keep hope.

As this little girl grew there were a lot of changes.  Mommy remarried and they moved to Tennessee.  Soon, the little girl had the brother and sister she had always prayed for, but she wasn’t happy that she had to live that life in Tennessee.  She craved the peace and warmness she felt under that Georgia sun and prayed for a way to return there, but that wasn’t what God had planned for her.  Despite being somewhere she didn’t want to be, she knew the people around her loved her, and it helped her keep hope.

Soon, she began to love Tennessee and actually became thankful she was there.  Although she cherished her old friends and memories with family, she became thankful for the new ones she was making.  Her church youth group felt like another home, where she could be herself and seek a relationship with her heavenly creator.  She knew He loved her, and it helped her keep hope.

Daddy got a new job and moved closer – also in Tennessee, only an hour away.   He introduced her to the love of college football and lazy days on the lake.  He cared about her opinion when he chose a bride.  She could always feel the love he had for her, and it helped her keep hope.

Soon, she graduated from high school, and although this little girl was short in stature, she was no longer “little.”   She was ready to take on the world, learn new things, and show everyone at this big, new school what she was made of – that is, until she felt all alone.  But there was a boy, a boy she had known since high school (even though he had known her since middle school), and he told her if she stuck with him he would help the loneliness go away.  She felt like he cared, and it helped her keep hope.

Through the years she stuck with him, despite his bouts of acting like a true-and-true college boy, and she began to have the confidence to do all the things she wanted – making new friends, joining new groups, and showing them all what she was made of.  But something was missing.  She put her heavenly father to the side to seek acknowledgement from those here on earth, and when they made her feel content, she thought she had hope.

Until the times they didn’t, not because they didn’t care for her, but because no one is perfect and people always, always will disappoint when you expect them to be perfect.  She still tried to find security in the boy, and when he made her feel loved, she thought she had hope.

Until he didn’t, because this girl wanted to be completed, while the boy just wanted to enjoy his time in college.  It wasn’t that he didn’t love her, he just wasn’t ready to make the commitment she was.  And even though she tried to walk away, he would ask her for another chance and tell her how much he needed her and loved her, and it helped her keep hope.

Things between the girl and the boy went too far too soon, and the day before final exams their senior year the girl found out she was expecting a baby.  Although she hadn’t talked to the boy in two days due to an argument, she called him to tell him they needed to talk.  The boy, excitedly thinking this was the girl wanting to patch things up, drove to pick up the girl so they could talk.  When she told him the news, his first reaction was shock, but he immediately grabbed her hand, looked in her eyes, and told her everything would be ok.  She believed him, and it helped her keep hope.

(To be continued...)