I’ll never forget the feeling when the doctor came back into the room with the positive test results.
“Mono, mono,” she said as my high school mind wondered about the implications. I’d later get down to 92 pounds and feel a lethargy I’ve never known. I’d even later suffer lasting immune system compromises.
I’ll never forget the negative test results I so longed to be positive on that pregnancy test.
Devastated, my body crumbled into broken sobs in the fetal position. A deep ache in my soul. A grief of loss.
I’ll never forget the positive test after our miscarriage… we were pregnant again. This time with our rainbow baby. But at the time we didn’t know—would this baby make it? Uncertainty filled our minds. Would we lose another life? Would I make it through if I had to once again endure that darkest road I’ve ever traveled?
Life is full of tests. School tests. Driving tests. From the day we are born, it begins with the APGAR test.
The tests of life often test our faith.
Scripture tells us that the testing of our faith produces endurance. And endurance, character. And character, hope (Romans 5:3-4, James 1:3).
And hope does not disappoint (Romans 5:5).
As Chris Tomlin sings, “I’m not just hoping. I’m not just wishing. I know I’m praying to a God who listens.”
The next time you face a test, or your faith is tested, or both all at once, remember that this testing is leading to a hope that will not disappoint when we place our lives in the hands of Jesus—the One who conquered the grave, the One who was tested Himself, and the One who has provided a way for us to have hope that does not disappoint, regardless of our circumstances, regardless of our test results.
