Faith.
Hope.
Love.
"...but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13
We often hear a lot about love...which is understandable and wonderful.
"...if you have faith as small as a mustard seed..." Luke 17:6
Another subject often brought up, faith. Again, faith is something that should be brought up.
Another subject often brought up, faith. Again, faith is something that should be brought up.
"We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure..." Hebrews 6:19
Hope...ahh hope, why are my ears so unfamiliar with your sound?
The past few days God has really been pressing hope on my heart. It started Saturday night when I was feeling empty, broken, useless...hopeless. I decided to go to bed and listen to some music to maybe give me some comfort (through Jesus of course). Well I tell you God wanted me to listen to that music too. I listened to a song ("How Great" by Enter the Worship Circle) that I had heard many times before, and yet for some reason, I never really listened to it until that night. The words hit me, "Hope is not beyond the dust of Your feet, hope is not beyond the tears that You bleed, hope is not beyond the fold of Your robe..." The point was made, hope is not beyond my God. I felt hopeless, but that is a feeling, I cannot trust a feeling, but I can trust my God. It gave me comfort even though I still felt a sadness.
The next day I went to church here in Ooty and the sermon was ALL about hope (by the way, I love Jesus...He didn't have to do that for me, but He did out of His kindness).
[Hope in Greek]
ἐλπίς
"elpis"
pronunciation: el / pece'
definition:
1. Anticipate with pleasure.
2. Expectation that God and good are coming.
Hope is something that allows us to not give up or quit. I will admit that being here now for three weeks in India, I am feeling a little useless and disappointed in some areas. It's really easy to want to give up (or to give up). It's easy to say how pointless what I am doing is. It's easy to look at the negative. But hope gives a different light, God's giving me a different light. He's telling me to look up and to expect good to happen. He wants me to anticipate with pleasure because He has wonderful things for me and they're going to be even more wonderful if I wait with a servants heart and a God pleasing attitude...even when I don't feel like it. He tells me (us) in Jeremiah 29:11 that His plans are not to harm us but to give us a HOPE and a future. If He has promised to give me a hope and a future, then I will wait with hope for my future, and I will serve with hope right now.
Love motivates.
Hope expects.
Faith acts.
Love, hope, and faith are all so very important and they all go together. My prayer for my life in this time is that God will show me how to love others with His heart, being motivated to love and care even more. My prayer is that I will have faith enough to act upon what God has set in front of me...or even acting on something I may have to search for a little. My prayer is that I will have a hope that waits and expects in gladness for my God to show up and show off. A hope that may not necessarily be coming from happiness, but that is stirring up joy.
Hakuna Matata
This post is amazing! It made me get all teary eyed! I love you and can't wait to hear all of the amazing stuff you learned a year from now! mwah! xoxoxo
ReplyDeleteAhhhhh. Thank you so much for sharing, I love hearing it. SO beautiful. Keep it coming, my dear. I am so glad that you are where you are right now.
ReplyDelete"I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord."
ReplyDeletePsalm 27:13-14
"Indeed the Lord will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places. Her wilderness He will make like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and sound of a melody."
Isaiah 51:3
^The Isaiah verse truly sums up my time in India: Hope of restoration. (If it could even be summed up.) I know the darkness, I know the hopelessness -- but I know our God who overcomes darkness and whose word of promise diminishes hopelessness. I remember...oh, I remember. And yet there was so much that I was hardly aware of, if at all, of the spiritual realm. Regardless of that, He is able to make us aware of Himself -- as holy, righteous, and good.
"The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance."
Psalm 16
Praying many things for you, my sister. Be still and know only who He is. He will do the rest.
Love.