By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
Hebrews 11:3 ESV
A MOTHER’S PRAYER
There are prayers a mother prays once, and there are prayers she carries for years. Some are whispered beside a sleeping child. Some are prayed through tears in the middle of the night. We pray for their healing, salvation, purpose, protection, relationships, freedom, and future. Sometimes God also places within us a particular burden, Scripture, dream, or picture concerning their lives, and at first, we carry it with great confidence.
But then time passes. The circumstances around us do not seem to confirm what we believed God had spoken. In fact, sometimes they seem to contradict it. What once felt clear begins to feel uncertain, and we find ourselves asking, Did I really hear God? Did I misunderstand? Am I still supposed to hold on to this?
JEREMIAH’S HONEST STRUGGLE
Jeremiah knew that struggle. He had been called by God and given a message to proclaim, yet obedience brought rejection, ridicule, loneliness, and suffering. In Jeremiah 20:7, he speaks to God with startling honesty: “You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed.” Yet only two verses later, Jeremiah says, “His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” (Jeremiah 20:9).
Jeremiah was discouraged, wounded, and tired, but the word God had placed within him was still alive. There are seasons in a mother’s life when prayer feels like that. We may become weary of praying the same prayer, yet somehow the burden remains.
We keep returning to God, asking Him to show us what is from Him and what may simply be our own desire.
FAITH SEES MORE THAN WHAT IS VISIBLE
Hebrews 11 tells us that faith is “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Verse 3 goes deeper: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” (Heb 11:3 ESV).
The visible world is not the full measure of what God can do. What I see today does not exhaust the possibilities of what God may yet do. Faith does not ask me to deny reality. It teaches me not to make present reality the boundary of God’s possibilities.
I can acknowledge pain and still hope. I can recognize what is difficult today without assuming that today tells me everything about tomorrow.
NOAH BUILT BEFORE HE SAW THE RAIN
A few verses later, Hebrews 11:7 says that Noah, “when warned about things not yet seen,” built an ark to save his family.
Noah did not wait for the first drops of rain before he began building. He worked while the sky still looked ordinary. In fact, he was named Noah, which means comfort (Genesis 5:29) by his dad Lamech to bring relief for that generation from the painful labor of cultivating the ground that God had cursed in chapter 3.
The world had not seen rain until Noah was 500 years old. Most of his life he preached and warned people about a rain that will come (that he hadn’t seen yet).
Had Noah waited until he could see the rain, it would have been too late. He had to build while what God had spoken still seemed unreasonable to those around him.
OUR OWN ARK-BUILDING SEASON
Perhaps many praying mothers know something about building under clear skies. We pray when there is no visible change. We continue speaking truth over our children when circumstances seem to contradict our prayers. We love, encourage, advocate, forgive, wait, and hope.
In God’s timing, every prayer and every act of faith becomes part of the building.
BEN’S STORY
Today, this is personal to me. For many years, I have carried a picture of Ben as a healer of hearts. Yet what I see today does not fully resemble that picture. He can speak, and he can sing beautifully in at least two languages. But he primarily speaks of only his basic needs and wants. Sustained conversation remains difficult.
So, I continue to ask the Holy Spirit, “What do You see here that I cannot yet see?” “Where I see limitation, show me the possibility that You see Lord?” “Where I hear few words, is there a small voice that touches lives in ways I cannot presently imagine?”
As Ben is learning to express himself to his friends and family, we are building a family business Wear the Hope with Ben, where he is learning to help make merchandise designed to carry hope, joy, and encouragement into other people’s lives. You can follow Ben’s journey on Instagram at @wear_the_hope.us.
I know God continues to write his story, though it still looks very different from the vision He has given me. But, I know that my Redeemer lives, and He has more than a 1000 ways to fulfill His purpose for Ben.
“O Israel, keep hoping, keep trusting, and keep waiting on the Lord, for he is tenderhearted, kind, and forgiving. He has a thousand ways to set you free!”
Psalm 130:7 TPT