Whilst in my bathroom the other day, I noticed and read the following quote on a toilet roll pack wrapper ….. ’Rebellious hope is good but early diagnosis is better’
For anyone suffering with cancer this statement is absolutely true - the earlier the diagnosis the better and a rebellious hope helps to generate a positive fighting spirit, much needed for anyone battling this terrible illness. or indeed anyone suffering.
During those first critical ten days in the hospital Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Lindsay did not move from Nathanael’s beside as he fought for his life. She had that fighting rebellious hope, a hope that was never going to give up on our son.
Rebellious can have a negative connotation but used in the right manner, in the right context it can be a very beneficial quality, a defiance or dogged determination to overcome.
We are so blessed by the fact that we have Jesus who instills hope into our hearts and lives both now and eternally.
Romans 5:3-5 “And not only [so], but we also boast in the tribulations, knowing that the tribulation doth work endurance; and the endurance, experience; and the experience, hope; and the hope doth not make ashamed, because the love of God hath been poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit that hath been given to us.” YLT
Going through and enduring a tribulation can produce hope in us. It’s a hope that is rooted in God’s love for us. God has a tenacity about Him that will not let us go. He wants to produce hope in us. He wants to produce joy and love and so many other qualities.
As we saw Nathanael come out of the induced coma and very slowly begin to recover, an inner hopeful joy albeit amidst deep tragedy would well up within us. Lindsay’s defiance to not give up on hoping and praying fervently for our son’s life paid off. She prayed, read and sang worship songs over Nathanael every hour of every day in those early days with a hope that she says came from God. She had nothing within herself at that time, but God was very present giving her that strength, that rebellious, defiant hope. That hope in the God of all hope.
We all need hope because without it, hopelessness can make us weak and crushed, even destroy us. Proverbs 13:12 says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”
Whatever tough situation we are going through let’s continue with hope in our hearts and more so that the God of all hope would fill our hearts with Himself. When this life does finally come to and end we can go the sure and confident hope that takes us into eternity with the eternal God who has displayed Himself in Jesus Christ.
Prayer - I pray that God, the source of all hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13.
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