Through the Eyes of Hope - 7 Days of HopeSample

Joy Renewed

"She thanked God that life was not always winter, that spring always came at last to chase away the cold and heaviness, and to release one to warmth and movement again."
Janette Oke, Love's Long Journey

The news of baby number two came as a perfectly timed surprise during our Ohio travels.

This pregnancy brought a renewed joy to our lives and a tether Chris and I used to pull each other closer. In the midst of endless appointments, procedures, and paperwork, the days carried the thrill of new life. A fresh starting point. Babies have a way of making the world seem brighter.

Even chores felt like rewards. We unpacked Christian’s old baby clothes and delighted in how tiny they were. How could he have ever been that small? I washed, folded, and carefully put away the hand-me-downs, set up the diaper-changing station, and arranged all the little bottles of lotions and creams. As I worked, I’d have flashes of doing these same motions, the same system for Christian, and my heart felt as if it would grow too large for my body to contain.

I’d thought I could never love anyone the way I loved Christian, but here was another Buchanan baby (Chandler!) who already was loved to pieces. I don’t know how to explain it—I’m not sure anyone does—but God absolutely allows an abundance of love for every child. I look at both of my boys and wonder how I ever got chosen to be the mother of these two precious souls. A baby brings a comfort to the family.

This baby brought a marriage together. There’s a verse in the Old Testament that I cling to, Joel 2:25: “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent among you” (NIV). It doesn’t carry the same impact today as it did back in those ancient times, since the majority of us don’t lose our livelihood to locust infestation. But we do miss out on special events, moments that are taken for granted until they are stolen.

In a lot of ways, blessing us with Chandler was God’s way of restoring the typical mommy experience that I missed out on with Christian. I felt impressed upon my heart that God said, “I’m repaying you for the years the locusts have eaten.”

I’d lost once-in-a-lifetime moments with my firstborn, but our God is a gracious and loving Father who saw fit to give me the desires of my heart. I wanted to experience a natural birth instead of another C-section. I wanted to claim the first precious moments of Chandler’s life with him in my arms instead of having him taken from me for hours. I wanted newborn pictures instead of blank, empty pages in the baby book. I wanted my family and best friends to celebrate immediately with us, together, instead of escorting them one by one to a small, sad room.

Instead of praying specifically for those things, I asked God instead to keep Chandler healthy and whole. At that time I didn’t feel like I had a right to ask for anything else, but our God is generous and loving. These small, unspoken yearnings made it to God’s ears, and He worked out each one of those requests so that my heart would be satisfied and I would praise the name of my God who dealt wondrously with me.

How has God renewed your joy lately? If He hasn't yet, what is He teaching you in the stretching process?

Questions for Reflection:

• Using the index in your Bible or using a keyword search on a Bible website, search the word joy. What do you learn and discover as you read through key verses that contain the word joy?
• What other trials in your life have ultimately ended with a renewed sense of joy?