A friend sent out a Prayer Request on Facebook one day asking everyone to lift up sincere prayers for a family friend of theirs; a young man named Keinan who had a terrible football injury.  The Doctors, she reported, "have no hope."

Immediately I closed my eyes and bowed by head, hands falling from the keyboard to my lap as I prayed for Keinan.  And as I spoke to God, he began to speak to my heart.  "No hope?..." the words came soft.  "No hope?..." I heard them again.  Not a statement, but a question.

This morning I took Asher to the imaging lab to get an x-ray of his back.  My little guy has been complaining about back pain on and off for quite a few months and when I finally mentioned it to his Doctor the man's reply was instant, "Three year olds shouldn't have back pain... we'll look into this right away."

No results yet, but my mind has been under attack by all sorts of negative imaginings.  Is it a tumor?  A rare bone disease that will fuse his vertebrae together?  A chronic muscular disorder that will only increase his pain as he grows?  Goodness, we don't know anything yet, but these hopeless thoughts are pelting me and requiring that I choose faith today.

On top of that my husband is going to the Cardiologist this afternoon for some testing himself.  He's been having heart palpitations and discomfort for a couple of weeks.  That's all we know right now. But it's enough to require me to submit my mind and heart to faith.

"No hope?..."  Of course I have hope!  

While we haven't heard one negative assessment or diagnoses yet, what if we do?  What if either or both of my guys need serious treatment or surgeries?  What if their lives are threatened?  What if life as we know it has to change in some drastic way?  I know this is unrealistic thinking today, given all we know or don't know, but what if I hear a Doctor say "we've no hope"?

My hope is built on nothing less

than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

but wholly lean on Jesus' name.

On Christ the solid rock I stand,

all other ground is sinking sand;

all other ground is sinking sand.

When Darkness veils his lovely face,

I rest on his unchanging grace.

In every high and stormy gale,

my anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, his covenant, his blood

supports me in the whelming flood.

When all around my soul gives way,

he then is all my hope and stay.

On Christ the solid rock I stand,

all other ground is sinking sand;

all other ground is sinking sand.

My 8 year old is at school today.  Right about now he should be taking his Science test.  One of the things he's been learning is the different layers in a sampling of soil.  A soil profile is a slice of dirt that shows all the different layers and what they are made of.  Last night Caleb reviewed them with me and explained them each to me.  First there is the leaf litter, then the top soil followed by the sub soil, next comes the weathered rock, and finally, at its foundation, bedrock.  When Caleb pointed to the bedrock he said, "This is the bedrock.  It's solid.  It's like when we build our lives on Jesus."

"Thank you, Mrs. E!"

Why is a firm foundation so crucial in our lives?  Because when we build our hope on the top soil, which shifts constantly, and the waters come down during the stormiest of days, lives fall apart, and hope with it.  But our lives and our Hope are established forever on the bedrock, the firm foundation of Jesus Christ.  When we accept Jesus as our Savior from sin we are made right in our Relationship with God the Father, and inherite an imperishable Hope built upon an everlasting Bedrock. When our hope is grounded upon the One who has numbered our days, knows us by name, forgiving each transgression of every saved sinner, we stand firm.  We stand firm.  Our hope has been established forever, eternal, everlasting, in Heaven. 

With all these things in mind, dear sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter. (2 Thessalonians 2:15)

"Though the grass will wither and the flowers fade, (though disease and unexpected storms rage against us) the Word of the Lord abides forever."  (Isaiah 40:8 )  Jesus has gone ahead of us to prepare a room for us in His Father's house where we will know everlasting peace, health, and Joy in His Presence.  Forever.

*  Once again, this is a post dedicated to those I know who are currently battling disease and hardship unlike any I have ever known.