everything rides on hope.

Didn't get around to posting this at Christmas time... but pondering hope is even more fitting for this  New Year...right?

 

Deeper than optimism,  more rooted than wishful thinking...

hope  | hōp |

noun
1 a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen

God's gift of Hope.

I learned much more about hope last year.  I felt it rise, crash, and slowly etch itself back into my heart.  At times it feels like there are 2 kinds of hope.   The kind that is defined above from the dictionary -- the hope that we feel for things of earth.   But also there is the indescribable kind of Hope-- the kind of hope that only comes from God.  The kind that lives in the Christian soul because God has initiated it.   We are the objects of His affection and mercy!

1 Peter 1:3-

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Unlike wishful thinking or staying optimistic,  Christian hope is secure.  It cannot be lost because what God ultimately has planned for our life is stored in Heaven. 

⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.  

So in believing this,  I find joy.

When life is filled with trial,  doesn't make sense,  or the things we hope for here on earth do not materialize,  Hope can endure.   

⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 

I am not trying to say that having Christian hope will wipe away yours (or my) trials and pain.   Certainly challenges persist while hope endures.   My intention with my writings...er...ramblings  is to testify that God has restored hope in my life.  Not just the hope of a new baby,  but the hope of my life eternal. 

I was so inspired this Advent season by a series of messages given at our church.  The Gifts of Christmas.

To learn more...

Click here to hear the podcasts    

more specifically choose November 28...   The Gift of Hope.