Even If. . . .

Even if. . . 
Those words.
It’s how she strings them together with other words that pierces my heart.
Even if, the answer isn’t what I long for.
Even if. . .

I know the even if. . . 

Even if my son is killed in the middle of the night on a lonely, dark road. . .
Even if my farmer gets cancer. . .
Even if our barns blow down. . .
Even if. . . 
God is still good. 

Do you know the Even if. . .  too?

Does your heart long for that which it may never have?
Are there the cries of your heart that remain unanswered.
Even if. . . can you still praise him? 
Even if. . . can you still search for joy and meaning?

Her words touch the deepest part of my soul.
Even if. . .
She hands me a stone.

A reminder.
An Ebenezer- A stone of help.

I Samuel 7:12
Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen.
He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”

Hope.
One word.
Hinging on so much.
Yet still.
Hope.
The beginning of Advent. 
Adventus.
The coming.
The arrival.
A candle lit.
A remembrance.

Hope.
to cherish a desire with anticipation : to want something to happen or be true – Merriam Webster

We cherish with anticipation. . . even if. . .
Because the story is still being written.
Because there is always hope.

Our hope lies not in our circumstances but in the One guides them.

Hope clings to the future.
And the future holds eternity.
Even if. . .