Tag Archives: eternity

Suffering: Remembering our Living Hope and our Eternal Inheritance

by Christina Fox, in category Suffering

Our first child was a girl, so my husband and I were ecstatic to find out our second child would be a boy. After a long labor, but a fairly smooth delivery, we believed our newborn son to be perfect in every way. But only two weeks later he became a newborn who aspirated, was labeled failure to thrive, and had to have a feeding tube placed at a month old. No one knew what was wrong with him. As the doctors speculated about his rare condition over and over again, my heart sunk deeper and deeper into despair and fear. I was so overwhelmed by fear and uncertainty, many days I could only pray, “God help me. Help us. Please save my son.”

Nearer to Christ

No one wants to face their greatest fear. Deep down we wonder how we would survive if indeed our greatest fear becomes reality. As Christians, we even wonder how we will endure, even though we know God is with us. Fear paralyzes us and often makes us forget God’s promise to be with us. Our faith can also be shaken by the raw emotion that comes with trials and when our hope is misplaced.

Two years later, my son is doing much better and continuing to conquer many developmental hurdles. We still don’t have an official diagnosis, and we may never have one. I live in a continual cycle of fear and trust, fear and trust.  Through this journey of appointments, tests, scans, therapy, and blood work, I see Jesus and the gospel with greater clarity. The Bible stories I heard and read many times growing up in my childhood church are no longer just good stories from a distant God. They draw me nearer to my LIVING HOPE, Jesus Christ, and my future with him.

The Grass Withers: Not Losing Heart in our Momentary Afflictions

by Christina Fox, in category Encouragement

This month, our last child is getting married. And while I am thrilled with my son’s choice for his wife, and anxious to welcome his new bride into our family, it is a bittersweet time of change. This milestone is also a reminder that my parenting years are now officially over. It is another season of change. Only recently, I retired. The job that I so enjoyed and the accomplishments that went with it are now behind me. On top of that my body is beginning to betray me. My arthritic joints and myopic eyes often combine to remind me of what I could once do. 

PEach week after our Bible reading. the pastor of our church concludes with the words from Isaiah that “The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Every time I hear these words, I think of how my life is withering. Withering is hard to face – and not much fun! We don’t like change, yet change is one of life’s constants. It is guaranteed. The Psalmist wrote about it clearly, though darkly in Psalm 103:15-16; “As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.”I could be discouraged with the Psalmist’s words if I did not continue to read the words that follow in verse 17: “But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children.”

Longing for Home

by Christina Fox, in category Encouragement

Throughout history, stories have been told, songs have been sung, and depictions in art have touched on the longing for home. Part of the human condition is a deep seeded longing for home. A place to belong. As an Army Chaplain spouse, I can say this longing is painfully evident in the military life. Military families have no physical home in which we stay long. And unlike most families outside the military community, the brevity of each home is something we deal with on a constant basis.

We long for a place to grow and root and thrive, not only for ourselves, but our children. Every time our spouse receives orders, we uproot. It is difficult to watch our kids breaking away from the home, school, and friends that they are attached to. Every time we move, I feel my children’s emotional and physical pain at doing so, and it hurts me more than my own pain of uprooting.

Where is Your Treasure?

by Christina Fox, in category Encouragement
PATSY KUIPERS|GUEST So many unpleasant, unfamiliar decisions accompany the sudden death of a beloved spouse.  The first few days after my husband Ray’s passing found me shrouded in a protective state of semi-shock, barely able to think, yet having to make one difficult choice after another – dates, places and times of visitation, funeral, burial… Read More

The Gates of Eternity at the DMV

by Christina Fox, in category Encouragement
HEATHER MOLENDYK|GUEST I recently had the delightful privilege of spending a beautiful summer day sitting at the local DMV office. Hours of endless lines. Lots of people packed into a building three sizes too small. Hard, impersonal stares from government workers who constantly question whether their paycheck is worth the time they spend dealing with… Read More

New Creations

by Christina Fox, in category Faith
NAN DOUD|GUEST Last summer, my sons and I got to watch a chubby green caterpillar go through metamorphosis. For weeks it hung motionless in its chrysalis attached to a twig. As time passed and the chrysalis appeared more desiccated every day, we felt sure the process had somehow been arrested and the poor thing had… Read More

When the “New” Wears Off

by Christina Fox, in category New Year
SUSAN TYNER|GUEST Nothing says “new” like opening a can of fresh Play-Doh. As soon as I peel off that plastic top, I breathe in that familiar childhood smell.  I turn it upside down to release a perfect cylinder of bright yellow or blue dough. It still has the ridged edges from the factory. Its possibilities… Read More

A Glorious Beginning

by Christina Fox, in category Grief
PATSY KUIPERS|GUEST Death has visited my family often in October. Three of my four grandparents, a beloved aunt, a cherished uncle – all six passed away during the tenth month of different years. This past fall found us bereaved once again, as my son-in-law's grandfather completed his earthly sojourn in mid-October. His memorial service was… Read More