Hope

I feel like a theme the Lord has been teaching me this year is hope. I’ve actually written about hope before but just feel the need to do it again. We have this wall hanging that says “faith, hope, love” and one day Brett just asked me why I thought hope was included in the three the Lord mentions in 1 Corinthians 13. He completely understood the faith and love but always wondered about the hope as I myself have in the past. As we were talking it hit me, though, that hope is what separates us from those who don’t believe. We have hope in Jesus, in his death and resurrection, and in the glory that is to be revealed, which is heaven. So when tragedy happens, as has just occurred in our family with the sudden death of my uncle (or the sudden death of Brett’s dad the year before) or miscarriages or job loss or whatever, we can have hope. Hope that Jesus has not nor will He ever leave our side. He walks with us through every single pain and hardship with us. Hope that this is not all there is. Hope in the life eternal in heaven where there will be no pain and no suffering. No tears or sadness. Hope in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Each time we go through a hard time, especially a family death (which often seem to be sudden in our family), I am reminded again of how thankful I am that we have Jesus. I cannot fathom dealing with tragedy without Him, without his hope.

Romans 8:22-25

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Isaiah 40: 28-31

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.