hope

all around me i'm surrounded by people and circumstances that seem to be in desperate search of this one little word.....HOPE.  one word that contains within it promise and expectation of things to come, of purpose and an innate desire for good or better, still to take place....

this week it all feels a bit crushing.  friends and family and acquaintances who face pain and loss and struggle and addiction and a lack of any real life-changing purpose to their existence.  it is heart breaking.  it is heavy.  it hurts.  my children feel it too...all around them in elementary school and highschool and university are youth and young adults who are in an intense struggle~ a battle for their souls that wishes to convince them that there is no real point anymore.  no real victory, no real plan or any real joy or peace available to them beyond the dreary day-to-day existence they grind through.  it pushes so hard into and onto them that their spirits ache to no longer carry the burden of this message.  they long to be free, to have the weight of it all lifted mercifully from their weary backs.  

they search for hope...love this song by Danny Gokey...

Hope In Front of Me

see, it is my experience and solid belief that the search for hope will be 100% elusive until the burdened and weary ones arrive at the right place.  the only place.  the only solution....also found in one simple word.  

JESUS.

i cannot sit silent about this.  if even one person reads this and considers these words for even a minute...then it is worth every keystroke...this faith i have in Jesus~ well, it has proven true time and time again in my life.  Jesus~ and the knowledge of His love, forgiveness and His clear plan for my life and my future has been my only real source of lasting peace and hope and joy.  it isn't pretend, it isn't crazy, it isn't pie in the sky...still, my life's never been free of pain or hurt or suffering.  it is still real, and sinful, and sometimes a challenging struggle to shine and rise up from the dark and into the Light...but mine has also been a story that has a strong consistent undercurrent of hope and peace through those life experiences.  i have felt the loving hands of my Heavenly Father holding me and carrying me through the storms...

Just Be Held

"so when you're on your knees

 and answers seem so far away, 

you're not alone

 stop holding on

 and just be held.  

your world's not falling apart 

it's falling into place.  

I'm on the throne, stop holding on

 and just be held" 

song lyrics based on truth.  truth from Scripture.  God's Word. 

Psalms 62:5 says this...

"God, the one and only~ 

I'll wait as long as he says.  

Everything I HOPE for comes from him, so why not?  

He's solid rock under my feet, 

breathing room for my soul..." 

Isaiah 40:31 says this...

"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."

i'll wrap this up.  a bit of a sermon, i know.  but man...it's life-giving, life-restoring and both timeless and timely.  before i end this, i'm sharing one of my very favourite songs by one of my favourite singers, David Crowder.  it is called Come As You Are  and is this post in a nutshell...Jesus waits, His saving grace is a free, wonderful and life-changing gift.  it anchors me, secures my future and makes sense of my present. 

if you ever want to know more, please ask me.  we can chat.  i'm happy to share the source of my HOPE eternal.  i want many to know, many to hear, many to be free.  consider the music, the words, the verses, and the desire you carry down deep to be free and sure of where true lasting HOPE lies.
that's my wish for you...HOPE eternal...