God Gives Us Hope

During Backyard Clubs this summer, we follow the story of Joseph as found in Genesis.

On Mondays, we focus on the truth that God give us hope. After having the kids act out the beginning of his story, I had "Joseph" sit in the middle of all the kids and we ticked off all the awful things that happened to him. Then we talked about how he could not put his hope in his father, in his brothers, in Potiphar, in the jailer, or in the cupbearer...the only one he could put his hope in was God. I asked the kids to share things that have gone wrong in their lives, then wrapped it up by talking about KK's story. I had to choke back tears as I ticked off some of the things that KK has gone through: 11 different homes before we adopted each other, the brain tumor diagnosis and 11 subsequent surgeries. I reiterated that she couldn't put her hope in the people who said they would adopt her, in her social workers, in medicine or in the finest doctors.

While I was telling the story during the morning Backyard Club, my phone started buzzing away and I wasn't able to answer it. My friend, Jenna, had brought KK to treatment and was trying to get a hold of me. It turns out that The Rothfeld Center received the results of KK's last blood serum test while she was at camp and her numbers were below cancer-fighting range. They wanted to increase her dose of vitamin C back up to 75 grams. KK was nervous about returning to 75 grams because of the pressure and headaches she remembered and she didn't want to do it without my consent. Since they were unable to get my consent in time, they gave her 50 grams. When I finally got the voicemail and texts, I desperately wanted them to up the dose to get her back in cancer-fighting range but knew that it was too late. It was killing me to think that she has probably been out of cancer-fighting range for the last month. It was at that moment that I realized that I needed to stop putting my hope in the vitamin C and put it back in God.

A couple hours later, Jenna dropped KK off at the afternoon Backyard Club just in time for me to ask her to take Joseph's place at the end of the story. I, again, talked about the things she has been through, then she said, "It was hard to trust people. I learned to trust my mom, then I learned to trust God." KK is such a beautiful example of someone who has put her hope in God!