From Amy, wife of Max, mother to Charlton, Joy, William, Bradford, Faith, and Grace:

When going through trials I have held onto my hope in Jesus Christ— no matter the circumstance. From when I felt homesick in a dormitory bunkbed in Heidelberg, Germany; to decades later, when I cried out praying prostrate on my bedroom floor… from meeting the US Ambassador to France to hovering over a retching child in the middle of the night: I recognize that the Lover of My Soul has forever been at my side— comforting, guiding and delighting (and in) me.

My Savior has always known my deepest desires, often recognizing and facilitating them before I did. He has delivered my heart desires at just the right time (sometimes ages after I first conceived them). He has answered my most fervent prayers. I was not always delivered from the deepest, darkest despair; but He carefully comforted my grieving sorrow. He has worked everything together for good and prospered me. He has faithfully redeemed those hopeless, painful places.

When I could not have imagined there could be any more attention from a perfect, omniscient, all-loving Creator, He has provided me even more treasure from His limitless source. Even more wonderfully, I have witnessed Him do the very same for my children. My God has taken me from a single youth, to a working woman in an international career, to a wife and mother (soon-to-be grandmother) of a wonderful family of six children. I am so grateful for how God has seen (and will see) me through it all.

I cannot wait to see Him face-to-face!

From Mary:

I went through a trial recently that shook me to my core, where holding onto hope felt.. impossible. I thought of the friends I had seen throughout my life go through really hard times and come out the other end saying, “Praise Jesus!”, and I started to wonder, “How did they do it?”. In my lowest moment, I stirred up the courage to reach out to them, hoping that they would have some answers for me. It wasn’t pretty– numerous long, emotional texts and phone calls— all to basically say, “I need help”. My friends loved on me, held my hand, and encouraged me to look toward Jesus through my pain.

As I took small steps toward Jesus, God first began to redefine what hope actually means to me. I had made the mistake of putting all my hope into the outcome of what I wanted to happen instead of in Jesus himself. God began to show me that, at its core, my hope in Jesus means that I am no longer under the weight of sin and death, and that I have a promise that He will bring good out of every situation. God started challenging me to put my hope in something beyond my present situation. (Phil 1:21).

I also learned that it’s in my most vulnerable moments that the enemy will do everything he can to separate me from God. So many times, Satan would tempt me to give up, become numb, or fall into discouragement or depression, but the people around me kept encouraging me to fight with the Word of God. I began to read it, memorize it, and speak it over my emotions, and the victory that was slowly won over my mental and emotional reality helped me to see that these were living promises. (Eph 6).

Lastly, I learned that hope is a choice. For so long, I would harbor all the things that had gone wrong, viewing God as insensitive to my pain, and imagining a future full of continued hardship. As I was encouraged to “choose hope”, I slowly began to see the power that God has given me had over my mind. I realized that I could choose to remember God’s faithfulness throughout my life, believe in His character of goodness and love, and proclaim words of life over my future.

Now, just a few months later, it brings a tear to my eye to see how far God has brought me. I can confidently say that I’ve made it to the light at the end of my dark tunnel by the hope I have in Jesus.