Day 43 — Hope & Acceptance

Revelation 21:4 – ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’

The final stage of grief is often referred to as ‘Acceptance/Hope’, and is described as ‘coming to terms with the final result, and looking to the future.’ That may mean for some, being willing to accept someone has passed away and then looking at how life can progress, for others it may be understanding that a business has ended and that a new job will need to be sought.

So what happens if acceptance doesn’t happen, or hope is lost?

Sadly, this often means people get stuck in grief. Hope gives a person a purpose, a reason to get up and face each day. Hope does not say, ‘Everything is now 100% better’, or, ‘There will be a positive end result from this’, but hope certainly changes the outlook of every situation.

Through faith, we can find our hope in God rather than through circumstance, and that is why even when we go through significant loss and grief, we can still feel an abundance of hope.

We personally experienced this when we went through baby loss. When we were at our most broken, having to face and accept the reality that the children we had longed for, were now in God’s arms rather than ours, our hope still remained. We held onto our faith and trusted that our future would be good, and that meant even in the valley of darkness, we could see the light on the horizon. Our testimony is, therefore, in both our tears and in our joy.

Prayer: Romans 15 v 13 – Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Zoe & Andy Clark-Coates
mariposatrust.org 
soultears.org