Another

Four months. Has it really only been four months since we began the new year? Began it with hope and anticipation, and perhaps even gratitude that 2019 was behind us? Was it only four months ago that we began the new year with resolve that this year would not just be another year? That it would be different? That we would be different?

We seemed to have lived a lifetime in these four short months. A lifetime that has become characterized by uncertainty. Where loss has become the norm. Where it seems that we went to bed one night and hours later woke up in a different world. A world in which, as of today, 2.2 million people are known to be infected with the coronavirus. And over 150,000 have died.

Into the cycle of bad news after bad news, another story, another perspective needs to be injected. Christ is Risen. He sits at the right hand of the Sovereign God interceding for us. We are not alone. God has a good plan and will bring us through this.  

I am joining the Five Minute Friday writing community, hosted by Kate Motaung, for our weekly writing adventure. Please click here to learn about Five Minute Friday. This week’s prompt is, “Another.” The statistics cited in the post are from the website marketwatch.com.

Hope

The world waits for a miracle
The heart longs for a little bit of hope
Oh come, oh come, Emmanuel
A child prays for peace on Earth
And she’s calling out from a sea of hurt
Oh come, oh come, Emmanuel

The lyrics above are from the song, “Light of The World,” by Lauren Daigle, Paul Duncan, and Paul Mabury. May you be encouraged as you listen, even if you have heard the song before. May we find comfort in the truth that because of Jesus, the Light of the World, we are never without hope. May we set our hope in God (Psalm 78:7, NKJV).

https://youtu.be/_cLhaZIBSpo

Sustenance from the archives+: Day 7 – Hope

It is hard to imagine a future when you lack hope.

It is hard to have hope when everything you can experience through your senses give you no reason to believe that the current circumstances will change.

It is hard to reach for, look forward to a future that, to your knowledge, will be more of the same.

The same pain.
The same struggle.
The same loneliness.
The same barren efforts.

But if you are His
you may feel hopeless but you are never without hope.

For He is the source of hope.

And He has made this declaration,

“For I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Did you hear that? He has plans to give you a future and a hope.

Not just a future but one that is hope filled.

And He is able to do just what He says.

So I join with the apostle Paul in praying, “Now may God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace as you believe, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy spirit.”* 

You have a future, a glorious future.

*Romans 15:13

NB: This post was originally published on this blog as “Five Minute Friday: Future” on June 2, 2107.

Advent Day 7 and Five Minute Friday: Only

Hope – someone or something on which hopes are centered.

“My soul quietly waits for the True God alone because I hope only in Him.” (Psalm 62:5, VOICE). Hope – someone or something on which hopes are centered.

“My soul quietly waits for the True God alone because I hope only in Him.” “I hope only in Him.” “Hope only in Him.”

“But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait eagerly for it with patience and composure” (Romans 8:25, AMP). “My soul quietly waits for the True God alone because I hope only Him.”

“…we also celebrate in seasons of suffering because we know that when we  suffer we develop endurance, which shapes our characters. When our characters are refined, we learn what it means to hope and anticipate God’s goodness” (Romans 5:3-4, VOICE). “Hope and anticipate God’s goodness.”

“My soul quietly waits for the True God alone because I hope only in Him.” “Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen“ (Hebrews 11:1, TPT).

“My soul quietly waits for the True God alone because I hope only in Him.” Hope only in Him.

This post was written for Day 7 of the Advent 2017 series and for Five Minute Friday. The definition for “Hope” is from merriam-webster.com.

The Hope of Advent: Day 6

Trusting God fosters hope. And He is trustworthy. In every season.

The Hope of Advent: Day 5

“Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from Him” (Psalm 62:5). David spoke these words to himself during a period when he was being attacked and there were individuals conspiring  to dishonor him. Perhaps, like David, you are in a difficult season even as everyone around you is joyful, anticipating the Christmas season. May you find rest in God and remember that you have every reason to hope because your hope comes from Him. Even if you can only whisper this truth through your tears, know that you are speaking truth to yourself. Your hope comes from Him and He will never fail you.

The Hope of Advent: Day 4

Perhaps you entered the Advent season stripped of everything you value(d). Perhaps your losses include a dearly loved person. I will not insult you with platitudes but I will  pray that if you find your hope slipping away, you will give it to God for safekeeping.  

 

The Hope of Advent: Day 3

You may be in a hard season of your life. Perhaps life has felt hard for so long, you fear that to hope for anything better is to set yourself up for acute disappointment. Hear the words of the One who cannot lie and who loves you with an everlasting love, and has never left you, “‘For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.'” (Jeremiah 29:11, AMP). May He give you the strength and grace to believe Him and to look to the future with hope.

The Hope of Advent: Day 2

Today, may you be encouraged and accept hope.

31 Days of Loving Well: Hope

Definition of HOPE
(transitive verb)
1: to desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment
2: to expect with confidence :trust
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hope, 2017)

“Abraham, when hope was dead within him, went on hoping in faith, believing that he would become “the father of many nations”. He relied on the word of God which definitely referred to ‘your descendants’. With undaunted faith he looked at the facts—his own impotence (he was practically a hundred years old at the time) and his wife Sarah’s apparent barrenness. Yet he refused to allow any distrust of a definite pronouncement of God to make him waver. He drew strength from his faith, and while giving the glory to God, remained absolutely convinced that God was able to implement his own promise. This was the “faith” which ‘was accounted to him for righteousness’.” (Romans 4:18-22, PHILLIPS)

“In light of all this, Lord, what am I really waiting for? You are my hope.”
(Psalm 39:7, VOICE)

“For You are my hope; O Lord God, You are my trust and the source of my confidence from my youth.” (Psalm 71:5, AMP)

//What does hope have to do with “Loving God well”? Nothing, if you see hope only as wishful thinking. But hope has everything to do with “Loving God well,” when I consider that to hope is “To desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment.” Did you notice that? “To desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment.” Hope also means, “To expect with confidence: TRUST.”

That hope is a demonstration of loving God well, is all the more evident when no thing in my circumstances gives me reason to hope, to believe that anything will change. In a situation that is declared hopeless according to everything I can experience with my senses, I can continue to hope because of He who is my hope (Psalm 39:7; Psalm 71:5). Like Abraham, I can face the stone cold facts of my situation and still remain confident in my God. Continue to believe confidently that He will do what He promised. And this kind of hope, this kind of trust is an act of love because, although I can trust without loving, I cannot love without trusting.//

This post was written for Day 4 of the 31 Days of Loving Well series. The prompt is, “Hope.” To read other posts in the 31 Days of Loving Well series, please click here or the image below.