Hope

Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark. ~George Iles

My Hope Is In You Lord - Aaron Shust

Yesterday, while driving, I became lost in my mental wanderings. I began thinking of those who preach of a spirituality that is "bigger or beyond" Jesus. I have to admit, I am a Christian who does not believe that Jesus is the only way...He's "MY" way, yet I cannot say he is the "only" way. I think because of my openness, those who believe differently than me, often feel comfortable sharing their own thoughts, their own wanderings and where those take them.

I believe that Jesus is bigger than my definition or understanding of him. I believe that he is present in places that would not be labeled as being "Christian."

How?

I don't know, he is Lord and in "my" mind, that means he is bigger and broader than I can comprehend.

Yesterday, thinking of these different pathways that are bigger/broader than any religion, I wondered where they find hope. I know that many who live from this position, live in the present moment, without concern for tomorrow because this moment is all we truly know we have...

2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "We walk by faith and not by sight."

For me, walking by faith, even though I cannot "see", I do see!

I see God all around me and I believe I see because of the grace found within Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit. Without the grace I have discovered in Jesus, I would struggle because it is my "hope" in him that helps me to ride the joys and the pains of this life.

This morning, I felt as though God was once listening in on my thoughts when I opened Sarah Young's devotional, Jesus Calling. For today, using Romans 12:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:8, and Hebrews 6:18-19 she writes:

http://www.markcassino.com/b2evolution/
index.php/2006_spring_wildflowers_viii

"Hope is a golden cord connecting you to heaven. This cord helps you hold your head up high, even when multiple trials are buffeting you. I never leave your side, and I never let go of your hand. But without the cord of hope, your head may slump and your feet may shuffle as you journey uphill with Me. Hope lifts your perspective from your weary feet to the glorious view you can see from the high road. You are reminded that the road we're traveling together is ultimately a highway to heaven. When you consider this radiant destination, the roughness or smoothness of the road ahead becomes much less significant. I am training you to hold in your heart a dual focus: My continual Presence and the hope of heaven." 

I smiled, appreciating and acknowledging the love of God that holds me and is within me as I read this passage. Because I'm warped, I looked up from the book and said, "Are you listening to every word I say or think this week?"

"Hope is a golden cord..."

We are living through the second drought in the same number of years. My family, my neighbors, many in my congregation depend on a good crop, yet for the second summer in a row, we are watching corn and beans "grow" in parched soil.

Without hope, I would be like those stalks of corn. I would be walking through this life, parched... Without the "living water" of my hope in Christ, my head would indeed droop, because living on this earth is painful, it is difficult. Hope is a cord, as Sarah Young writes, it is a "golden cord" a cord of great value that connects me to that which I cannot see except through the eyes of faith.

Today, I thank and praise you, Lord, for the gift of hope that resides in my heart! I thank and praise you for the teachers you send along my way, just when my head does begin to feel a bit heavy. I thank and praise you for people in my life who send encouraging notes or emails, they are woven within that golden cord that connects me to you for through them, I see you! I ask you blessing upon them, may their lives be touched by your love, may their sense of hope be strengthened, as they too walk by faith. AMEN.


Jeremy Camp - Walk by Faith... 


Many Blessings ~ Sandi