Gratituesday: Hope

When we anchor our hope in God's steady love and good plans for us, hope becomes a
permanent part of us.  We have hope not because we are powerful or smart or resourceful
but because of who God is.

Mary Lou Redding

I came across this quote in my Advent study yesterday and it shook me. 

I have struggled with hope mightily this year.  From health issues to financial issues to church struggles, it's been an overwhelming year.  There have been many days when I've felt that hope - simple hope for a better tomorrow - was beyond me.  

But lately...over the last week or so...hope has started to awaken again in me.  I may be coming closer to the end of the medical mysteries, but the financial and church struggles...well...I don't think they're going to be over any time soon, but I am finding a new sense of peace about them. 

...hope faces reality.  Hope is not merely putting on a happy face, denying our needs and frustrations, and mouthing familiar phrases about how good God is. 
Hope faces squarely what life is and what it is not.

Mary Lou Redding

Hope isn't hiding your head while the storm blows around you.  Hope is seeing things for how they truly are - acknowledging the reality of each and every situation -  and knowing that no matter how difficult, how frustrating, how hopeless they may seem...they are never beyond God's love and plans.

In that, I find hope.

For a long time now, I've put my hope in people and in the future.  I can't do that anymore.  Real hope - the hope that God desires for me to embrace and live on a daily basis - can only be anchored in His love and His plans.   It must be based on reality, realizing that people aren't always what they seem and that the future is only God's to plan.  

I am so grateful for the hope lessons I've been learning, and grateful for the true hope that only comes with knowing who God is.

Want to read more Gratituesdays?  Head on over to Heavenly Homemakers!

And while you're there, be sure to find out how you can win a $200 gift certificate to Tom's Shoes.

Comments

[Sarah]

Romans 15:13
"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit"

[Audra]

Wow - thank you for that post. I needed to be reminded of our Hope in Christ today.