Hope is defined as, “the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best”.

We have all hoped for something. There are times that the thing in which we hoped for manifests in our lives. Then sometimes our hopes turn into disappointments.

What do you do when you have reached a crossroad and it does not seem that your desire will happen? Do you keep hoping or walk away? I want to share a true story with you that I pray gives you hope when faced with a fork in the road.

Kiesha and her husband were high school sweethearts. In their early twenties, they decided they wanted to start their family. A year went by and still no children, however they were young so they knew it would happen soon.

With each late menstrual cycle, her excitement and anticipation of a baby would heighten, only to have her hope temporarily stolen by another negative pregnancy test.

After eight years of irregular cycles, heavy bleeding, symptoms of PCOS, etc, the doctors told her to have a hysterectomy. They did not see a child in her future and a hysterectomy would at least give her some relief from the painful cycles and issues she was having.

Kiesha was at a crossroad. Would she believe what the doctors said, or keep hoping that what God said to her would manifest? She decided not to take the doctor’s advice and to keep believing that God’s promise to her would happen.

Then came year 9, year 10, year 11, year 12, and still there was no baby. She watched friend after friend get pregnant, and still no baby.

I do not know if she ever admitted it aloud, but I am sure at some point she started to doubt it would really happen.

One day, while at work, she started to feel ill. She went to the ER, thinking she was having some sort of heart problems. They ran several tests, but did not find anything wrong. The nurse, not suspecting anything, asked her to provide a urine sample before she left.

To all of their surprise, Kiesha was pregnant! After thirteen years of hoping, her desire had finally come. I am happy to report that today Kiesha is caring for her now 2-month-old beautiful son.

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but when dreams [the desire] come true at last, there is life and joy.” Pro 13:12

When hope is deferred (postponed, delayed, or withheld for a period of time), it can be painful and hard to endure, especially when you see others so easily have what seems to keep slipping through your fingertips. 

I can’t help but wonder how many of us give up right before our breakthrough is about to come.  I wonder how many of us give up because it did not manifest in the timeframe we thought.  Kiesha’s story touches me because I cannot help but think what if she had that hysterectomy. She would have never seen her desire come to life!

I know every story will not end as Kiesha’s did. We all have our own unique journey and they do not all take the same path or end the same way.  Sometimes a delay does not mean “no”, sometimes it simply means “not now”, and sometimes it means God has “something else” planned for us. 

I don’t how your story will end, but I just want to encourage someone out there reading this that even when everyone around you has given up, if there is strength in you to still believe what God has told you, then simply BELIEVE! HOPE!

“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

~Keishawna