Hope

I've always been a person of hope & perseverence, believing in a future of greatness & continually striving towards dreams. I love those qualities about myself, and I have Jesus Christ to thank for His promise of giving me a hope and a future. A negative side to those attributes, however, is the temptation to leave today behind. Someday, I hope God will fulfill my dream to live with my family in another country, helping bring physical and spiritual relief to hurting people born into poverty. Until then, I know I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be right now, and yet I'm not doing much to make those dreams a reality. What am I doing in my everyday life to help Clarksville families find spiritual and physical hope in Jesus? What are the hopes and futures you cling to? Are you in a place of no hope? Perhaps you're in an opposite position of myself & only living in the today? Or are you like me and living mainly for the future? Wherever you are, I pray that the below will encourage you.
For the past several weeks thoughts like the above have been swirling around in my head & I haven't taken the time to record them...until now. Since the above revelation, I have been trying to take more time living in today's moments...starting my day reading the Bible & praying, not rushing Ellie out the door or picking Saedi up because she doesn't walk fast enough for me. I've been trying to enjoy relationships more and taking time out for people and the now moments of my life. These past few weeks with family allowed me mental reflecting time and the opportunity to make some changes in my everyday life...what I eat, how I spend my time,etc. The reflection, though, has also led to a desired change with my blogging. So, this is my first attempt to mesh the two: ordinary life and the eternal effect of lessons learned.

The other night I had a friend over for dinner but I was treated to serious conversations about our different spiritual beliefs. We talked a lot about faith and hope and what those ideas mean to us. As I talked with my friend I was reflecting on ideas I hadn't thought about in years. I realized I have an abnormal amount of faith and hope in my life...enough that I would base my worldview on those two concepts. My friend does not believe that anyone's eternal future should be based on faith, and, therefore, he doesn't value hope & faith like me. For me, though, I've experienced the reality of God at a young age. While I have always believed there existed a God and that Jesus was the son of God, I remember the moment I chose to live my life for God. I remember choosing to give up my habit of lying. And I remember the night I cried out to God and He spoke to me telling me everything would be alright. My friend has not had a God encounter like I have had, and while he desires an encounter with God, he's lost hope that that could happen for him. My encounter was real and I cling to the hope that God is who He says He is and that His promises are true. Hope is a wonderful, powerful thing. Hope is something that if you cling to it, it can't be taken from you. So, wherever you are in your personal journey of faith, hope, life, your future, don't back down until you get the answers you need to make hope a reality in your life.