Hope. It’s definitely a theme in my life these days. I must choose it day after day in order to survive this season of infertility.

One day a group that I’m part of took a moment to ask God for a specific word for the year ahead. Then we each marked on a stone the word that He had whispered to us.

My little HOPE rock sits in front of two favorite pictures of my husband as a baby. It reminds me of my hope that one day we will have a little Mike.

I don’t see myself as much of a painter, however one night I had the idea of painting the word HOPE in a sunburst like this. So I did. It hangs in our spare bedroom, the room that awaits our child.

On the blog Waiting for Baby Bird, I read about the steps of faith the blogger has taken to demonstrate her faith and hope for her future baby. She and her husband have bought a crib and have set it up in their nursery. You can read about it here.

I’ve loved the imagery in the Bible about baby hopes being fulfilled. Let me share a couple of favorites:

Psalm 113:9 paints this picture: “He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord!” God cares enough about the deep longing in a woman’s heart to share this image in His word.

Psalm 30:5 says, “Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” Or as The Message translation says, “The nights of crying your eyes out give way to days of laughter.” I have cried a lot over my experience of being unable to become pregnant, and I’m looking forward to the laughter that comes with a little child. For example, the toddler for whom I nanny has made me laugh with his spontaneous laughter. Such as one time when I was plucking grapes off the stem while he sat at the kitchen counter. One popped off and rolled away, and the little guy laughed out loud – who knew food could be so funny?

There are many pictures of hope in the Bible. I describe many of them in the book Embracing Hope During Infertility.

I’d love for you to leave a comment with your favorite picture of hope in the Bible!