This year, I asked God to give me a word to think about (last year my word was joy-- you can even look back here and on my social media and see I wrote a lot about it). But if I'm honest, I haven't taken much time to contemplate my word for 2018, and I haven't really seen its significance in my life. So as the year wraps up I ask God, why hope? I reflect on the many seasons I went through this year: joy, heartbreak, waiting, questioning, business... I know God was there, and I know he was working, but how does hope tie into all of it?
So I pause and remember. In the joy, he showed me his faithfulness and provision. I remembered how good he is. In those moments of remembering, there was also hope. Hope that my Father would continue to show me his kindness.
In the heartache, I leaned into his promises and listened to him whisper comfort when the lies in my head screamed over the storm in my soul. That comfort was hope for a new day tomorrow. Hope for forgiveness and reconciliation. Hope for healing and love.
In the season of waiting and questioning I needed (even though I didn't want to at the time) to trust God's faithfulness. At this time, I was hurting and frustrated because I had heard God give me a clear plan for my summer. I had listened to his Spirit and followed his voice. But that door that I was led to closed in my face. And I asked, "what? Why? You called me here. I know it because I still feel you pushing me through this door, but it's closed God! What do you want me to do?" I needed to hope in His plan. To hope in his words and yet again, his faithfulness. And wouldn't you know it, he knocked down the door just a few weeks later.
And in the business (basically the mundane of life as normal), I still need to hope. I don't know what the future holds, even though I can tell you everything I need to get done tomorrow, but I am hoping in that plan God has for me. I am hoping in my Abba to keep transforming me into a child that is more like him. I am trusting that I am beloved and hoping in the love and immense patience that will greet me tomorrow when I open my eyes and begin to go through my to-do list.
Hope has been there all along. Even when I didn't put in the effort to hope. But God reminds me of his goodness and he goes before me with those same promises, and it forces me to hope. He has been good, he still is, and he will continue to be forever.
So I pause and remember. In the joy, he showed me his faithfulness and provision. I remembered how good he is. In those moments of remembering, there was also hope. Hope that my Father would continue to show me his kindness.
In the heartache, I leaned into his promises and listened to him whisper comfort when the lies in my head screamed over the storm in my soul. That comfort was hope for a new day tomorrow. Hope for forgiveness and reconciliation. Hope for healing and love.
In the season of waiting and questioning I needed (even though I didn't want to at the time) to trust God's faithfulness. At this time, I was hurting and frustrated because I had heard God give me a clear plan for my summer. I had listened to his Spirit and followed his voice. But that door that I was led to closed in my face. And I asked, "what? Why? You called me here. I know it because I still feel you pushing me through this door, but it's closed God! What do you want me to do?" I needed to hope in His plan. To hope in his words and yet again, his faithfulness. And wouldn't you know it, he knocked down the door just a few weeks later.
And in the business (basically the mundane of life as normal), I still need to hope. I don't know what the future holds, even though I can tell you everything I need to get done tomorrow, but I am hoping in that plan God has for me. I am hoping in my Abba to keep transforming me into a child that is more like him. I am trusting that I am beloved and hoping in the love and immense patience that will greet me tomorrow when I open my eyes and begin to go through my to-do list.
Hope has been there all along. Even when I didn't put in the effort to hope. But God reminds me of his goodness and he goes before me with those same promises, and it forces me to hope. He has been good, he still is, and he will continue to be forever.
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