There is a beautiful blond 7 year old girl named Ana battling a brain tumor.  She already fought it once when she was three and then was given a break until this past Fall when it reared it’s ugly head again.  Her parents are facing some very tough decisions regarding treatment and care.  I love what her mom writes in one of her updates. (Elsa is Ana’s little sister.)

Elsa taught us about our invisible bucket one day after school. 

Positive interactions and words of affirmation fill one’s bucket.  Hurtful things drain the bucket.  Our girls are usually running targets and I’ve often felt like I’m shooting water toward their moving buckets with a cheap dollar store squirt gun. 

A drop got in on a good day, and my job was to be scrappy and relentless in aiming at it.  By His grace, He lent me His garden hose several times over the last couple weeks.  We have had many honest, difficult talks…and our girls let us speak words of truth and love and encouragement into their hearts.  It’s as if they stood  still for the bucket filling.  God is with us.  He draws us closest when times are the hardest.

I repeat Romans 12:12, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulations,  and continue steadfastly in prayer.”

We embraced a family who lost their son to brain cancer this week.  Their hearts are broken in a million pieces and we feel desperate to bring them glue, but that’s not how this works.  We share our lives and our deaths.  We share our pain and our victories. We are strong, but not by choice.  Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose, but never are we defeated.

Through it all, we are focusing on each other, embracing as we explore each new day and all it’s possibilities.  We won’t quit in hard times, we’ll pray all the harder.

Grab a garden hose and speak words of truth, love and encouragement to those around you today. And if your bucket is painfully empty…God’s word is full of truth, love and encouragement that He is just waiting to pour on you.

At Inheritance of Hope it is our joy to come along side families who are hurting and share life with them. The community that is established becomes a big family. We share our lives and deaths. We share our pains and victories. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose, but never are we defeated.