From My Heart To Yours
Where is the hope?
I came to Kelowna in 1991, my daughter had recently drowned and I was going through a marriage separation. As I crossed the BC, Alberta border I heard the still small voice of God say “I have brought you here to heal you” Throughout the next few months and years I pressed through a lot of pain and emotions, broken relationships, single parenting, and survived cancer, with the help of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I am going to try to pass on some of the insight I received from my heart to yours to encourage you on your life’s journey.
Today, I want to discuss hope. Most of us have lived, at least for part of the time, in a dark, hopeless state. We know about faith, (our vertical relationship with God) and love, (our horizontal relationships with others), but we don’t hear much about hope.
1 Corinthians 13:13 AMP “13 And so faith, hope, love abide [faith--conviction and belief respecting man's relation to God and divine things; hope--joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love--true affection for God and man, growing out of God's love for and in us]”,
Hope is the sustaining energy needed to accomplish the other two; to increase your relationship with Christ and to love those around you. It is hope – a picture of your preferred future, “a confident expectation” – that will give you the sustenance needed to press through to your highest potential regardless of what your circumstances or surroundings look like.
At some point in my healing process, I had to anchor my soul on hope,- hope that I would return to wholeness, hope that the pain would stop, even though I couldn’t see it happening at the time, I knew I had to live by hope. This scripture brought me great comfort.
Jeremiah 29:11 MSG - I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.
There were days when I simply kept motoring forward, even though I had to tow my feelings behind me. I pressed on in the knowledge that God would be faithful, that He has not abandoned me, and He has plans and a future for me.
When we run with His promises in mind it will not be easy. Waiting for the full download before you start on the road to healing will leave you with false hopes. Waiting for your feelings to change before you begin to live will only compound the problem, and drain the batteries of your soul. Remember this is a journey out of hopelessness that may take a while. We want our healing to be like a microwave, quick and fast. But sometimes we have to be in the crock pot, simmering for a long time until a wonderful fragrance comes out of our lives. My dear friend Cindy would always say “early days Linda, early days”.
In the turbulence of hopelessness, when you do not know which way to turn, look up to what God called you to do in the first place. It’s the common denominator of life. Write it down. Make it your target, it will give you back purpose, and hope will start to return. It will act as your GPS and correct you back to what’s most important for you! This gives you hope, and it is His hope that will give you sustainable energy. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that my purpose was to be a pastor. I lined my life up with that purpose. We serve a God who never fails us when we run in the confidence of His trustworthiness. He gives us hope that does not disappoint, to finish strong, we must learn to press in and live by hope, even though we don’t have full understanding on this side of eternity.
Romans 5:5 MSG 3-5 There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling short changed. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
What is God calling you to do in life? Do you have picture of your future? What does it look like? Have you written it down? Will you run in the hope of finishing well?
Hebrews 6:18-20 MSG 18-20 We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us,
Hope is the anchor of the soul; wrap that spiritual lifeline around your circumstance and hold on to the promises in God’s word.
From My Heart
