Hope ~ The Soul’s Anchor

How often have I used the word hope like it’s a lucky charm? “Oh, I hope it works out,” “I hope she gets better,” “I hope I get to go.”

Hope is not a wish sent off on the wings of an angel to some ethereal plane, nor is it pie in the sky positive thinking. Hope is anticipation, confidence, security.

Many times I hope for change…change in people’s lives, hearts, actions, direction. It means I anticipate with confidence that change can take place because I know my all powerful, all knowing God is more than capable of producing that change.

I see it in how He changes the seasons. After a long harsh winter I hope for spring. That doesn’t mean I wring my hands and say, “Oh I hope God decides to change the season!” God has already ordained the times and seasons. Believing that, I look forward with yearning and longing for that change, in full confidence it will happen.

Does everything I hope for come into being? If my hope is in seeing His will be done, yes. But what if the person I’m praying for never changes? What if the sick never gets well? How does that effect my hope?

In human terms, hope is a perishable commodity. Despite God’s love, and His countless blessings, we are frail and finite human beings who can lose hope from time to time. When we do, we need the encouragement of fellow Christians to point us to the One who gives us hope.

Even though we go through trials, struggles, worries and discouragement, God offers us peace, joy, and the hope of eternal life.

~ “The choice for me is to either look at all the things I have lost or the things I have. To live in fear or to live in hope…Hope comes from knowing I have a sovereign, loving God who is in every event in my life.”   Lisa Beamer   (Her husband Todd was killed on flight 92, on September 11, 2001.)

~ The hope we have in Jesus is the anchor for the soul – something sure and steadfast, preventing drifting or giving way, lowered to the depth of God’s love. Franklin Graham

~ “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:19,20

~”Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Romans 5:3-4

What are you living to produce in your life? Wealth?  Fame? Status?  Significance? Legacy? How about character! Isn’t having the character of God our real goal in life? So even in our worst of times, if we can be people of character, then nothing can steal from us our most desired goal, the character of God, given us in Jesus Christ.

Dear Father, please bless me so that I can be strong in difficult times and consistent in holy character. Please give me a heart of courage and compassion so that in some small way I can more nearly remind others what you are like and what you can do in their lives.

Your Humbly Grateful Daughter.

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