On the 8th October I flew to Cape Town to speak at an event and on boarding the plane received the news that one of my best friends, Ange, had just given birth. I got to meet darling Olivia at only a couple hours old and I will forever treasure this gift that Jesus gave me.
Today I have interviewed Ange, Olivia’s mum, as she tells her story of HOPE!!
On the 8th October this year my husband Jaco and I welcomed our precious daughter Olivia Zion into the world. Weighing in at 3.5 kg she arrived strong, full of life and complete. Our dream of becoming parents had been realized and we both sobbed uncontrollably- overwhelmed by the moment and the fact that what we had hoped for had now been realized.
Hope had gotten us to this point. Why hope? Hope because hope is what we chose to hold onto in September last year when I had a miscarriage and we lost our first baby.
The devastation of a miscarriage is difficult to articulate. It was a raw and heart wrenching experience where it felt like our hearts where shattered and our dream of becoming parents destroyed. Yet in the the whirlwind turmoil that shook our world we made a decision to cling to hope and our journey taught us the following about hope:
1. Hope is a choice
When my husband and I returned from hospital I faced a choice. I could either drown in despondency or I could look forward and choose hope. Together we sat on our bed and made a decision to choose to be hopeful. We would not loose hope in our dream of becoming parents. We would continue in hope. Hope that my body would recover quickly. Hope that my emotions would settle. Hope that I would fall pregnant with a pregnancy I could carry to term. Hope during this time was a daily choice to discipline my thoughts and choose my reactions and decisions carefully.
2. Hope celebrates when others succeed
Immediately after my miscarriage friends around me started falling pregnant. I chose to celebrate them receiving the very thing that I was still hoping for. Hope and jealously cannot coexist. Often in life we see the very thing that we are hoping for occur in someone else’s life. My thought on this is to always celebrate another’s victory even though it is the victory you personally desire.
3. Hope grows character
During the period I was hoping to fall pregnant I experienced a lot of personal character development. There were many instances when I wanted to give in to feelings of anger, hurt, inadequacy and self pity (and believe me there were days when I did give in). However I needed to catch myself, correct myself, choose more positive responses and let go of destructive thought patterns and feelings.
4. The reward of hope is rich
In February this year we were so delighted when I fell pregnant again. Hope had kept us going and allowed us to navigate through a very rocky time. Our new journey was now beginning and after 39 weeks of a strong and healthy pregnancy our darling Olivia was born. Our appreciation was deep, our hearts ready and our we were very ready to take on this journey of parenthood courageously.
