June Hope Chest- Hope Conquers Fear by Summer Sink

 The day I was asked to write about hope I went to bed with Isaiah 40 on my mind as well as singing the Aaron Shust song,” My Hope is in You”; which is one of my favorite songs, and one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. 

My story shows how God used one life event to give me the strength to hold on to hope and let fear subside during another.

In the fall of 2012, I found myself crying for three weeks straight.  I found out I was pregnant with our second child, and an overwhelming fear had set in as I went to my appointment to confirm this pregnancy.  

The confirmation of this pregnancy was the first time the events of my FIRST pregnancy became “real.”  

In April of 2010 I was going into my 27th week of pregnancy with our son Brooks Clem.  My husband and I were leaving for St. Lucia that Friday so I had a doctors’ appointment to get a note for the airlines saying I was ok to fly.  During this appointment, I found myself being admitted to the hospital for signs of preeclampsia, high blood pressure off and on, and high protein levels.  

The next morning, I was told that I needed to be sent to Duke or UNC, because the hospital was not equipped to care for a baby younger than 30 weeks gestation in their NICU.  

 I chose to go to Duke and I spent three weeks there with doctors and nurses waiting for the “next shoe to drop” as the only consistent sign of preeclampsia was that my protein was through the roof.  My doctors wanted to keep Brooks growing for as long as possible so they did blood work daily as my organs were slowly showing signs that they were shutting down.

 I had HELLP syndrome. 

 Throughout these three weeks of living in the hospital, my nurses and visitors would come in and make comments on how calm and quiet I was and I would tell them God is seeing us through.  I didn’t feel as though I was sick, but I knew I was. 

 However, I also knew that God was giving me every bit of strength I needed to see the two of us through this pregnancy.  

On a Wednesday morning, the doctor called my room and asked if I was ready to have a baby.  My blood tests showed my levels had taken a turn for the worse – we had made it to exactly 30 weeks, and our 2 lb. 9 oz. baby boy arrived full speed ahead.

 The doctors at Duke saw that he was doing well, so he was moved to a NICU closer to home.  Through a ten week NICU journey that was full of multiple trips to the hospital I held on to hope and the strength God provided.  

Brooks came home on his “due date”, but not without complications.  He was diagnosed with Chronic Lung Disease.  Thankfully, he outgrew this around 9 months of age.  An overwhelming feeling of peace stayed with me for the next three years…

Now back to the start of my second pregnancy…

Sitting on the exam table I cried as the doctor showed no empathy.  I was scared to go through another pregnancy similar to what Brooks and I went through.  I struggled with the fact that my husband and I left it to God to decide if we were going to have another child, and when He provided I felt guilty and ashamed that I was so scared to be pregnant again.

 I knew God was in control, and through the support of friends and family as well as a couple of wonderful doctors, I began to feel hopeful. 

 My husband would always tell me “it’s ok we are going to get through this together”. God had given him the peace from the beginning this time around.  The doctors were not as concerned with preeclampsia and HELLP setting in again, though there is always a chance; however, studies are showing that mothers who have it with one child and then have another child by the same father, the risk is very low. When one of my wonderful doctors gave me this information, I could feel the fear melting and hope coming alive.  

This pregnancy wasn’t carefree either due to having a severely septate uterus and having Factor V Leiden.   Yet, with God on our side, many prayers, and my hope being restored, we were able to make it through without any complications. 

 At 37 weeks, our baby girl Jordan Faith (who was going to be named Jordan Hope, but my brother had a little girl 5 months earlier and used Hope) was born healthy.  

God gives us events in life to help us through others. 

 We serve an awesome God who always provides.  We may not see it at first, but we have to keep hope alive and put all of our Trust in Him.  

June Hope Chest-Hope Adapts by Valicia Leary

When Matt & I got married, our dreams were to buy a home, start a family, and live a happy life…..all common things.  

Our first daughter was born on November 27, 2000 six weeks early. We were blessed that even though Elizabeth was premature, she seemed healthy and came home after 7 days in the hospital. She stole my heart immediately and I hoped to be a great mom to my baby girl.

As time went on, Elizabeth began missing milestones, but we were assured she would catch up, she was just premature. I couldn’t wait to celebrate all of her “firsts”. The first smile, first time she rolled over, sat up, and so on. 

At 14 months, she wasn’t catching up as predicted and was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy due to lack of oxygen shortly before, during, or right after childbirth.

 I kept hoping she would begin to do the things other children were doing. I joined a mommy group for stay-at-home moms which was sometimes a blessing and sometimes heartbreaking. I met some wonderful women who were supportive. 

However, I also saw children Elizabeth’s age doing things she couldn’t do. I remember one Christmas at our group’s party when we shared what we wanted for Christmas. All I wanted was for Elizabeth to start crawling; even though children her age were walking……she was a little over a year old. On December 30^th, she began to crawl, a great late Christmas gift! 

Our second daughter was born on August 30, 2002. She truly came out of the womb running! It was quite a difference in their development. I was amazed when she did things so much earlier than Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth took her first steps alone (without holding on to anything) on June 1, 2003 at 2 ½ years of age. Emma wasn’t far behind. Elizabeth began to walk with a walker when she was about 3. She was making progress and I thought that one day she would walk independently. She became quite good with the walker and graduated to crutches. At home, she could walk holding on to the walls or take a few steps on her own between furniture. I began to hope that she would walk on her own. She began Kindergarten using crutches, played baseball, and took ballet & tap classes with her sister. I loved seeing her on stage with her little pink crutches. My hopes were for her to do everything her sister could do. 

At the end of second grade, Elizabeth was on a field trip and the floor was wet and she fell hard. She didn’t hurt herself physically, but she hurt her confidence. Previously when she’d fall, we’d tell her to get up and she did. This time was different. It seemed like walking was not getting easier for her, but a little harder. 

People with cerebral palsy have issues with muscle spasticity and her muscles were not keeping up with the growth of her legs. They were getting tighter, so she was walking in a crouched position which was putting pressure on her knees and hips, causing her pain. It was very hard for me to see her regress. It was a painful decision, but for her safety, we decided she would begin using a wheelchair in school or for long distances.  She was able to use one donated to the clinic where she goes for therapy, and where I work. Almost a year later, we ordered a wheelchair for her.

 My hopes for her were changing. I realized that maybe I needed to stop hoping for her to walk independently, but instead hope for her to have as much independence as possible.  She continued to walk at home with her crutches and short distances, but was struggling more & more. 

At one of her appointments at Shriner’s Hospital in January of 2012, Elizabeth’s doctor told me that he felt she needed to have surgery on her right hip. It never formed correctly and was probably causing the pain she felt when she walked. He thought if we didn’t correct it, she may eventually struggle to walk too much, and then she may not walk at all. My husband and I decided she should have the surgery and Elizabeth agreed. We felt this was the only option to keep her as mobile as possible.

 In July, Elizabeth had a pelvic and femoral osteotomy. They cut the top of her femur and pelvic bone then used pins to put her hip into place where it should be. It was the longest day of my life waiting for her surgery to be finished. Everything went well and we were able to come home the next week. For the next 5 weeks, she wore a brace from her chest down her right leg to keep her hip in place. She slept in our family room because we couldn’t get her up the steps to her bed room. She wasn’t allowed to bear weight on her leg for a few months. 

On November 2, 2012 Elizabeth took her first steps again in physical therapy…..something I had hoped for since her surgery.

We hope both our daughters have the same opportunities and get to experience the same things. Sometimes I’m afraid Emma is missing out on things because places are not handicapped accessible or not easy for Elizabeth to do because she is in a wheelchair. We are careful to plan trips around both of their interests and places we can access with Elizabeth’s wheelchair. 

As I cleaned Elizabeth’s wheelchair for the middle school dance this year, I kept thinking how thankful I am that Elizabeth and Emma can experience the same opportunities in life. Instead of getting what I originally hoped for, I got so much more. Elizabeth has taught me about determination, hope, and faith. 

June Hope Chest- Hope Reveals Blessings in Time by Whitney Gesner

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”   Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

For years, this has been my favorite scripture.  I have it memorized and repeat it to myself regularly.  It reminds me that I’m not always in control of my life or that of those around me.  God has a plan, if I’ll just sit back and let Him take the lead.  

For those of you that know me well, I’m sure you’re thinking, “Yea right!  That’s not the Whitney I know.”  I’ll be the first to admit this is not always easy for me, hence the need to memorize and repeat frequently.

Two words of this scripture stick out to me, hope and future.  Hope is defined as a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.  Synonyms include aspiration, desire, wish, expectation, ambition, aim, goal and plan.  Maybe I confuse hope with faith, but I’ve never been one to hope for a certain outcome.  I’ve always been much more likely to hope for whatever God has intended.  But according to this definition, maybe what I think of as hope is actually faith.   In any case, hope and faith go hand in hand for me.  

Hoping for certain outcomes or having specific expectations seems to take God and His plan out of the equation.  You can desire an outcome and dream of the life you want, but are you prepared for God’s answer to be “No” or “Not right now.”? 

Even people who seemingly go through life playing by the rules, making good decisions and striving to be good Christians go through unexplainable struggles.  Things happen along the way that don’t seem to make sense…illness, death, heartbreak, financial troubles, etc..

 Things may happen that are out of my control, but how I react and what I do with those circumstances is up to me.

Shortly after the birth of my first child, I was diagnosed with retinal lattice degeneration.  This is a disease of the eye where the retina becomes atrophic in a lattice pattern and may develop tears, breaks or holes, which may further progress to retinal detachment causing blindness.  It’s a genetic condition that is present in about 6% of the population.  Of that 6%, only 1% will suffer an actual detachment.  So for every 1 million people 600 will experience a retinal detachment.  And you guessed it…I’m the winner!  

I’ve worn glasses and contacts since the age of 12 but never dreamed an underlying condition could one day take my sight completely.  For 12 years, my condition was monitored closely and each time I was told there was no progression of disease.  

Then on July 9, 2012, in the course of 10 minutes, I went blind in my left eye.  

After 3 physician opinions and an emergency trip to Lexington, I entered surgery at St Joseph East Hospital on July 11 not knowing what the outcome would be but knowing that it was my only hope.  

There were no other options. 

 I underwent a scleral buckle procedure on my left eye and laser surgery on the right.  I’ll save the gruesome surgical details but you can easily learn more online.  My full recovery took months and only after 6 months, did we have a full understanding of where my vision progress would plateau.  And even then, there were various combinations of contacts and glasses used to further improve my vision.  To this day, I am legally blind in my left eye without the use of contacts or glasses.  Let’s just say the mornings I knock my glasses off the nightstand are fun. 

Through all of this I can honestly say God blessed me with a very strong sense of peace, particularly in the 2 days leading up to the surgery.  During the drive to Lexington, while lying flat on my back as instructed by the doctors, I had a conversation with my brother I’ll never forget.  

As word spread, my brother called to see what was happening and how he could help.  We talked for a while and then he said, “How are you so calm?  Aren’t you scared?  What if you’re blind now?”  

At the time I couldn’t explain it to him but I wasn’t.  That’s not to say I wasn’t scared of the surgery or the recovery. I also wondered about the future and what life would be like for my family if I were to go blind.  

However, with 100% certainty, I can tell you I knew everything was going to happen just as God intended. 

As I write this, I’m sitting in my front yard under my favorite tree.  This has been my family home since 1975.  In fact, in 1976 my father took a picture of me with this exact same tree.  In 2006, my husband and I purchased the house from my parents.  It overlooks Ritter Park and the Rose Garden.  The American Planning Association featured this area in its 2012 annual list of “10 Great Public Spaces.” 

 It’s a beautiful spring day.  The flowers and trees are in bloom.  The grass is a beautiful bright green.  Families and individuals are enjoying the park, and my son and his friends are playing baseball just across the street where I can watch.

 I am extremely thankful that it wasn’t in God’s plan to take my eyesight two years ago.  However, if that day ever comes, I know there is a higher purpose in the loss of my sight.  I’m sure I won’t see the blessing in the moment but feel certain it will be revealed in time.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:8-10 (NIV)

June Hope Chest- Hope Will Pull You Out of the Darkness by Michele Linville

Many years ago, I began to ask this question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”.   

I was actively involved in my church, was studying my Bible, and my prayer life was at its strongest.  I believed that God rewarded faithfulness, so why did my life begin to spiral out of control?

I had health complications my entire life, but at age 27 I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease and began to suffer some major health complications. My husband was not a Christian and was an alcoholic.  His drinking had never caused major problems in our marriage, but he began to spiral down a road of depression and even heavier drinking which led to gambling addiction and infidelity.

After several years of praying and fighting to save my marriage, I found it was a losing battle that was exhausting  me mentally, physically and spiritually. My husband filed for divorce, both of my boys were diagnosed  with A.D.H.D. and my eight year old son required a child psychologist for depression. 

With my health still failing, I was forced as a single mother to care for my children alone. I drug them to their doctor appointments, set up individual education plans (I.E.P) with their schools and struggled with their learning limitations. I was in and out of the hospital while struggling to maintain a full time job to support my children. 

 I am not going to lie. I cried myself to sleep many nights. I prayed in anger asking God what His plan was for me because I was starting to feel like I had been forgotten. I was lying in a hospital bed after yet another surgery feeling so alone, like even God had abandoned me, and I opened a card from a friend that had Hebrews 13:5 printed on it. “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

 It is amazing how God can speak to us if we just listen. I began to realize that God never promised my life would be easy. I also started trying to focus on what I did have instead of what I didn’t have. 

• I had two beautiful, healthy children, in spite of the limitations with education we were facing.
• I had incredible parents that stepped up to the plate and did as much for me as they could when I needed them. 
• My best friend had supported me unconditionally through all of this and spent hours nurturing me as I licked my wounds.
• And as bad as I was struggling, I reminded myself that there were people facing terminal issues that had no hope of a cure.

 I still had hope of recovery.

 There it was. A small word of only four letters that pulled me out of the darkness I had crawled into.

 HOPE.

 It was a life altering revelation, God hadn’t moved, I had. He was still there waiting on me to trust Him. I changed my prayers from, “Why me?” to “Help me accept your will.” Speaking from experience I can tell you the hardest thing you will ever do is completely trust God with all aspects of your life. I stopped worrying and started feeling hopeful that God would deliver me. And if He didn’t, then it was my responsibility as a Christian to know there was a higher purpose for my life than living a life of contentment.

 How many times throughout the history of the Bible had God been at active battle with evil? And any war that He fought, He always sent his strongest soldiers. And when those soldiers were called to battle, how many, like myself, whimpered and complained? 

But God always knows better than we do.

 I began, through prayer and study, to realize He hadn’t given up on me but had led me into battle knowing my limitations and more importantly my strengths.  I began to focus all of my attention on my church and my children.

 God led me into a relationship with a Christian man. Joe was a man I had known all my life and I knew he was a man of integrity and kindness. He had raised two boys with A.D.H.D. ,was  incredible with my boys, and understood my frustration.

 After some time had passed he began talking about marriage. This made me nervous, because I didn’t want to make another mistake. I prayed one night asking God to give me a sign to show me which direction He wanted me to go in. I wasn’t ready for marriage but didn’t want to decline if it was something God was putting before me. The very next afternoon, Joe took me to our church using the excuse that he needed to adjust the projector for Sunday’s service. After we walked up to the front of the church he dropped to one knee and began a proposal that still gives me goose bumps to think about.  He told me that God had brought us together, and he wanted us to be married with God and our church as our main focus. He also said he wanted us to blend our families together into one.

 He basically said everything that I had prayed the night before. It was as if God was not only giving me a sign but using my very words in Joe’s proposal to confirm my faith that this was where he was leading me. 

To wrap up my story, Joe and I married in 2005 and he has helped me raise my boys into responsible, intelligent men who refused to let their learning disabilities limit them. My oldest son has a heart of gold and has transitioned into the working world with little problem. My youngest son graduated high school this year, is an Eagle Scout and  a responsible, amazing young man. I have two step sons, two daughter in laws and five grandchildren that love me unconditionally. I have been in remission from Crohn’s since 2005. 

Coincidence? I really don’t think so, my faith tells me differently.

 I still have struggles with my health but nothing I can’t live with.  I have learned to take nothing for granted, even a small little word like Hope. That one little word  helped me move mountains.

 Never give up. God has a plan for each of us.

 I share my story with you hoping that someone out there can relate to my situation or find hope in the fact that God will never leave you.   All things are possible with God, so even when life gets hard, Let go and let God!

 Never give up hope.

Hope is the Peanut Butter, Pray is the Jelly

Hope and Pray go together like peanut butter and jelly.  Both are good on their own, but together they make a killer combination.  I have heard those two words used together for as long as I can remember, “Well, I hope and pray that it happens…”.  Combining these two actions might just be the key to opening any locks in our mindsets.

This morning, I (Kim), sent my youngest child to her last day of her senior year in high school.  I have already sent one child off to college, and now it’s almost time to do it again.  It was a teary morning after she left.  There is a lot of transition coming up in the next few months for us, and while I trust God and know that He has all of us under His wing, I am only human, and even Jesus wept.

There are lots of things I hope for in the lives of my children as they begin their adult lives.   A walk with the Lord, success, confidence, happiness, love, strength to overcome adversity, endurance, and strong will are just a few that I think of immediately.  I also ask God to deliver these things into their lives.  I wish he would deliver all of them NOW, but He doesn’t work like that.  Even though, my requests aren’t answered on demand, I know with confidence that God hears them.

Being confident that God hears you is important.  We aren’t supposed to be wishy washy in our faith, but straight up sure that our Father knows what is best for us.  When we approach him with confidence it pleases Him, yet we still must be humble and ready to yield to God’s will.  Our hope comes from knowing that God wants the absolute best for us.  He’s seen the whole movie of our lives.  He knows how it ends.  He knows all of the plot twists and characters intimately.  It gives me hope that God has that knowledge about my two precious kids (young adults), and even though I might fail, He is the ultimate parent knowing what is best for them. 

So, I will continue to P.R.A.Y.

Praise- Thank you, Father God, for the blessing of being a mother to these kids.  Thank you that they are healthy, and have good hearts, and that they know You.

Repent- Forgive me when I fail to reflect your love and light to other people, especially to my family.

Ask- Please don’t let go of them, but pull them close to you filling their lives with success, confidence, happiness, love, and strength keeping them healthy and making wise decisions.

Yield- I ask these things for them if it is Your will, and if it isn’t, give me the strength to parent them with grace and forgiveness.

Amen.

Passages to Ponder:

I John 5:14- And we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him.

Ephesians 3:12- Because of Christ and our faith in Him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.

Hebrews 10:23- Let us hold tightly without wavering o the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise.

Contributors:  Karen Bromby and Kim McClure

June Hope Chest- Hope Anticipates and Restores by Stephanie Fulmer

(Copyright © 2011 Marion Niewald),

 It is easy to just clump hope and faith together.  We know that we should have them both.  It’s easy to get the two mixed up, and some people may even mistakenly use them interchangeably.  I think about them this way: hope is kind of like a wish or anticipation for what is to come, while faith involves putting trust in the hands of another that all will work out for the best.   They most definitely go hand-in-hand, but I did not always realize to what extent.

Throughout my life, I hoped for many things.  Kind of like a little “to-do” list of items to check off and move on to the next thing.  When I was younger, my life long list of hopes read a bit like this:

I hope I get an “A” on my report card.

I hope I get into the right college.

I hope I get a scholarship.

I hope I choose the right sorority (and that they choose me back!).

I hope I will fall in love and get married.

I hope I find a job teaching.

I hope we save enough to buy a home.

I hope we have a baby.

I felt so lucky because everything I ever hoped for just fell into place. It seemed if I had little hope and put my mind to it, my goal would be accomplished.   

I made great grades in high school, went on to get a scholarship to the University of South Carolina, where I pledged Delta Gamma.  I met my future husband, Paul, while at Carolina, and after graduation, we got married.  I started my teaching career as a 6^th Grade Science teacher in a middle school in North Carolina.  Before our first anniversary, we had saved enough money to purchase our first home. Life was a cinch until we got to that last item…”I hope we have a baby.”

Everything was on track with our young married life.  Paul and I both found good jobs and bought our home.  We just needed a baby to make it perfect.  I figured all we had to do is decide to have a baby, and it would happen. 

 I started doing math in my head, trying to figure out how to time my pregnancy around the school year.   I started making pained lists of possible baby names.  I had girl names and boy names.  All were painstakingly matched up with family names for middle names (because I am from the South, and we give our children maiden names of mothers, grandmothers, and great grandmothers).  As I showered each day, I wrote the possible baby names over and over on the steamed up shower door. I tried to visualize what the names would look like on an engraved wedding invitation someday.  I started thinking about nursery themes for the child I would most certainly bring into the world.

Months came and went. Many of my friends were having babies or sharing the happy news of their pregnancies.  Many people were even asking me why I wasn’t thinking to have a baby yet.  People were giving me sage advice that involved basal thermometers, leg elevation, and even taking cough syrup every day.   Every month that passed was like mourning the loss of a child that would never be…a lost possibility.  The anxiety and depression that was settling in was truly overwhelming.  

After a year of trying with no success, my doctor finally referred me to an endocrinologist at Wake Forest University’s Baptist Hospital.  Upon entering the endocrinologist’s office, I was hopeful at the sight of the numerous baby pictures covering the walls.  It was obvious this doctor was able to help so many couples who came here before us, so I just knew he would help us realize our dream to become parents.

The doctor walked into the room and seemed surprised that a couple in their mid-twenties was seeking his help.  He told us that his patients were typically in their mid-thirties to late forties, and suggested that we just give it a little more time and let nature take its course.  My hopes were dashed, and I immediately pleaded for him to listen to our story.  He agreed to do some blood work to rule out hormonal reasons behind our inability to conceive.

When the blood work came back the doctor sat down with us and informed us that I had a condition called Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). He agreed to order hormonal therapy that would increase our chances of having a baby.  We left his office with several prescriptions and strict dietary guidelines. 

 Our hope was restored.

After three months of treatment, we were expecting!  With cautious optimism, we waited for the ultrasound appointment that would confirm whether or not our pregnancy was viable.  The technician showed us the baby’s heartbeat, all but a pulsating blip on the computer screen.  We were relieved and excited until the technician got a puzzled look on her face and abruptly called for the doctor.  Paul and I looked at each other and wondered what was going on, we felt uneasy and prayed, “Please, God, please let our baby be OK!”

The doctor came in and congratulated us.  “Both babies look like they are off to a good start…” 

Wait. Did he say BOTH babies?  TWINS???!!! We hoped and hoped for a baby…just one…and God was blessing us with two!   We left the office clutching ultrasound pictures of Baby A and Baby B.  We were so thankful and hopeful for what our lives would become. 

On September 14, 1994, Ethan McCoy Fulmer and Savannah Teague Fulmer made their way into the world six and a half weeks early.  They were small but fairly healthy, and were called “feed and grows” during their ten day stint in the NICU at Forsyth Memorial Hospital in Winston-Salem. 

 We brought our two bundles of joy and settled into our busy family routines. In February of 1999, God blessed us with another daughter, Katelyn Sinclair Fulmer, who is now 15. I have always called them “my pair and my spare”.  Once our hopes of having a family were realized, we switched into “faith mode”.

Flash forward. Now our twins are nearing their 20^th birthday. In that time, we have faced many challenges along our parenting journey.  

Just before leaving North Carolina, our 5 year old son was diagnosed with autism.  We struggled to find a diagnosis and once a diagnosis was made, we scrambled to find treatment options.  After relocating to Cincinnati, we found Cincinnati Children’s Hospital was close by with specialists and therapies available to us.

 His twin sister was diagnosed with systemic lupus with secondary psoriatic arthritis at the age of 12.  Once again, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital was right there with one of the few pediatric rheumatology clinics in the United States.  We praise God for his placing us in this very place, where the medical services that our twins needed were accessible to us.  Had we stayed in North Carolina, we would have had to drive several hours to receive the same level of services.

Despite the parenting challenges we have faced and continue to face, we have enjoyed every single moment of being parents.  We feel blessed by God every single day, and are hopeful our youngest will remain healthy.   We simply place our trust in the Lord and have faith that He will continue to throw angels in our path to guide us as we continue on this wild parenting ride while we anticipate whatever might be coming next.

June Hope Chest- Hope Turns Challenges Into Joy by Linda Greenwood

It isn’t a difficult task for me to think of a woman who reflects hope in all seasons and trials of life.  I suspect these women are relatively rare, but I am extraordinarily blessed to know such a woman and to call her my friend. 

She probably doesn’t remember our first meeting.  A mutual friend thought that Marcie and I have a lot in common.   About ten years ago, our friend decided that we should meet one another.  In response, Marcie offered to make lunch for us.  What a lunch!  She made a complete meal.  

There were two truths I learned about her that day.   The first is that whatever Marcie attempts, she does it at full speed ahead.   The second truth is that Marcie likes to eat lunch at 11:30 and she is a meat and potatoes kind of girl.  

During lunch we chatted about our various illnesses and, as I recall, we didn’t quite “click” the way our friend thought we would.  The click would come later. 

In the years following “the lunch”, I ran into Marcie all over the place.  

She played the flute in the Bethany Church holiday orchestra concerts, and we bumped into each other with mutual friends.

I saw the same side of Marcie that everybody sees – the outgoing, smiling, self deprecating, candid and razor witted lady who attacks life head on.

I truly began to know Marcie when I was in her Bible Study group.  I saw a remarkable leader who has the unique ability to draw meandering Bible study discussions gently back on topic, while showing a sensitivity towards ladies is completely honest and real. 

It was during that time that I began to see her as my hero. 

Her smile and gracious, loving attitude shines through the daily, relentless pain she lives with every day.  Marcie silently – no complaints here – is a loving mother, daughter, sister, wife and friend.  She turns every setback, every illness into a positive quality.  

She was born with Nystagamus.  It is a condition where her eyes are constantly moving.  She adjusted to this dizzying condition, and now it is normal for her.  It’s truly amazing that she loves amusement rides that spin.

 If you’ve ever sat next to Marcie you have probably noticed she moves continuously from the waist down.  She really is clinically hyperactive.  Her mom taught her how to control her ADD.  So, she has excellent rhythm in her musical ability.  She turns a disability into joy.

Disfiguring Rheumatoid Arthritis and Fibromyalgia hammer constant pain into her muscles and joints.  I have never seen Marcie grimace or be short tempered while she is going through a flare up.  I have, however, seen her laugh and joke when most of us in her position would be crying. 

 She’s cleaned my house when I couldn’t.  

She visits the sick.  

She is an excellent and fearless mom especially when her husband was away from home on frequent business trips.

Recently, her Godly attitude and bravery shone even more brightly.  She stayed by her Dad’s side through his surgery, decline and passing.  She did not express anger, fear or questioning about God to me about his illness and passing.  In retrospect of that period of time, she often called me when she knew I was going through battles.  She’s stuck by me through thick and thin. 

She is an example of how to encourage the broken hearted.

Last year, my friend suffered mini strokes.  She was in the hospital several times.  I heard a, “HI Lynn!”, as I entered her hospital room.  

Big smile.  No fear.  No attitude.  Determination, Trust in the Lord. Joy.  

The mini strokes have slowed Marcie down physically.  Oh, but not mentally or emotionally. 

 Her prayer life is strong. 

 Her love of the Lord is intact.  

Her smiles and unique laughter still strong. 

Yes Marcie, you are my hero, my steadfast friend.  And, I love you.