It’s a new year. And hopefully of new beginnings. <\/p>\n
Hope…
\nHope…it’s what keeps us going.
\nHope…one of the “these three that will remain”.
\n“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)<\/p>\n
‘Hope’ is a powerful thing. It provides us with the strength to endure, to persevere, to ‘hang in there’ when everything inside us wanted to just lie down and give up.<\/p>\n
But in what do we entrust our hope? In our circumstances, that they will change? I have hoped that my circumstances would change and although some of those circumstances have changed not all of them have. I have been forced to face the reality that I have to accept some of the circumstances handed to me and try to be faithful in the midst of them. <\/p>\n
Let’s be honest. There is no way that I always place my hope in God. However that is the only constant. God does not change. So what is it about God that I place my HOPE? I can think of a few things:
\n– God is LOVE (1 John) – no matter what my circumstances are I believe very fervently that God loves me; the bad things, the hard things, the things that don’t make sense – they are NOT because God is mean or spiteful or vengeful; nothing can change that fact that God is Love and that He loves me
\n– I am not alone – God is with me; I don’t face my circumstances alone; and when I surrender myself to God, accepting my weakness and brokenness and allow Him to carry me and speak to me through those things it brings grace to the journey
\n– God is faithful (and He has infinite resources) – although I don’t understand why God does not do or provide certain things when I think that I most desperately need them He has done things in my life and provided in ways I could not have imagined (and often God’s solutions are better than the solutions I had dreamed up for Him to do on my behalf)<\/p>\n
And this year I plan to step out of my comfort zone (my perceived security net) and embark on a new journey (that will probably be even better than I imagine). But it involves a certain degree of risk and uncertainty. I know I need to just step out and do it. And I need to hope… hope in the One who holds my life in His hands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"