Faith Barista Jam- Hope Now

Today's topic for the Faith Barista Jam is Hope.


HOPE.
One of my favorite words in the world honestly. 
I know that if I ever have a little girl some day I really want to name her Hope.  (hopefully that will be ok with my husband ;o) )

Hope wasn't my word for 2011 but HOPE has always been my word.  For me HOPE is often that thing that keeps me going in the tough times. 

When I feel like life is getting to be too much. 

When I see the world falling around me.

When I see disaster here, there, or everywhere.

When all I really want is to be wrapped in his arms or walking on his streets in heaven.

HOPE is what fans the flame- sometimes the very faint flame- inside me.

I looked up the definition for Hope this morning and was a little surprised that there are so many for it. 
Some that I'm a fan of some that are just ok if you ask me. 

But here's what they are... I've underlined the ones that I personally really like.  (Made the ones I LOVE bigger)

-noun
1. the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best: to give up hope.
2. a particular instance of this feeling: the hope of winning.
3. grounds for this feeling in a particular instance: There is little or no hope of his recovery.
4. a person or thing in which expectations are centered: The medicine was her last hope.
5. something that is hoped for: Her forgiveness is my constant hope.

–verb (used with object)
6. to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence.
7. to believe, desire, or trust: I hope that my work will be satisfactory.

–verb (used without object)
8. to feel that something desired may happen: We hope for an early spring.
9. Archaic . to place trust; rely (usually fol. by in ).

—Idiom
10. hope against hope, to continue to hope, although the outlook does not warrant it: We are hoping against hope for a change in her condition.

My preferred definitions are the verbs. 
Which to me makes perfect sense, because HOPE is an action. (at least with me)
It's something that moves, that inspires, that drives me to hang in there. 

I pulled a few verses that have  HOPE as well.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  Hebrews 11:1

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation. 1 Peter 1:13

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, 1 Peter 3:15

I don't know where you are today or what you are going through, I know that this year has been tough for me. 
With relationships failing, with health issues, with the state of our country, the loss of life all around us. 
All these circumstances can get a person down- I know that it's been getting me down- but we have reason to HOPE, we have our ever present Savour who loves us more than we can imagine. 
So lets "rest our hope fully upon the grace" (1 Peter 1:13). 
And lets trust that things really will turn out for the best, because that is what God wants for us, even when we can't see it. 

May HOPE be the fuel to your faith today. 

Here's a little music with HOPE today as well.  Addison Road- HOPE NOW

Valleys

I feel like I'm really walking in the Valley right now...

I feel like life is one big struggle right now...

Maybe it's those winter blues, maybe it's the passage of another year, maybe it's what seems like the lack of interest from that boy, maybe it's lack of sleep.

I wish I knew what it really was that had me down. 

That thing that seems to keep pushing me down. 

That the thing that seems to, no matter how I try to get up, keeps rushing back to me.

I don't like this, HATE would probably be a good word for it. 

I'm not that girl.  The sad, irritable, semi-depressed girl I see in the mirror.  The one I see even through the forced smile, I can see it in those brown eyes. 

The one that is longing for someone to just wrap her in their arms and allow her to cry it out while they rub her back and say everything is going to be fine. 

I'm not that girl.  I'm the one who people come to for strength and encouragement. 

The one that others lean on, not the one that leans on others. 

And I know, I KNOW what the word says, I know that He PROMISES he won't leave or forsake.

"Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”  Deut 31:6


But I don't feel like I have it in me right now to be STRONG and of Good COURAGE. 
 
So What do I do? 
 
I'm trying just to hang in there right now.  But even little things seem to set me off right now. 
 
And it's hard.  I know some people can tell I'm struggling,  Some try to be encouraging, by saying things like...
 
they know I'm tired of being patient, but to just keep my head up.  That God has a plan and I'm an amazing person.   (how can they know, they are neither 30 or single)
 
Or that God has someone really special for me.  Because I'm so special. (I'm not really questioning my specialness)
 
Or that its all in God timing.  (duh, it's always God's timing)
 
I KNOW these things deep down...
 
I've probably heard most of them repeatedly, more times than I could count, in the last 15 years. 
 
And while they mean well, sometimes those words hurt.  Sometimes they get lost in the pain.  Sometimes words aren't what someone needs (odd as it is for me to say that since I'm writing) Sometimes all we need is someone to just be there with us in the journey. 
To simply sit with us, to simply stand with us and just be there. 
 
TO JUST BE WITH US
 
In our hurt, pain, disappointment, struggles, or whatever it is that we are experiencing. 
 
I don't (nor do others who are hurting) expect some to have those right words, the "golden" words. 
If you're not near in distance a simple- wish I was there to give you a hug, sit with you, or grab coffee, is often FELT just like those actual things. 
 
I KNOW -with out a shadow of a doubt- that God hasn't left.  That he does understand, that he does have someone.  That he sees and even FEELS my pain (& yours too).
And I know he will work it out for his good- 
 
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  Romans 8:28
 
I KNOW I am called according to HIS Purpose,  even if I don't understand the whys of this time in my life.
 
 
² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.  JAMES 1:2-8
 
While I am finding it hard to count it as joy- I'm believing that God has his reasons for all this. And I'm doing all I can to persevere. 
 
Will you sit with me, pray with me, just be with me in this journey.  I don't expect you to have the answer, I just want to know you're there with me in it.  Sticking with me in all things, just like I'll stick with you. 
Even if you are struggling, irritable, semi-depressed, or tearful.

On My Mind

There seems to be so much on my mind these days.

Some of it good- like the new guy, that's good. 

Not all of it is good though.

There are lots of things happening in the world today. 
Lot's of things that cause one to question things.

Like a blogger friend of mine who struggles with infertility and just had a failed attempt to get pregnant.
She has a desire to be pregnant so bad.  It's one thing that she seems to want more than anything else.
But endo has taken most of her chances on carrying a child. 

Then there is a little boy in our area that is fighting a brain cancer.
There is very little the doctors can do for him.  They are trying some chemo but the doctors told his mom that they don't believe he will leave the hospital.

I also received news from a friend of mine who has been serving on the mission field for 14 years that she is coming back to the states for, well at least a good while by the sound of it.  She fought and beat breast cancer 4 yrs ago and only returned to the field just this year.  And now she is coming back to the states.

This weekend I also heard of a pastor friend and his wife's struggle with their adopted son.  I son I have met, a RAD kid.  (RAD- reactive attachment disorder).  The hurt and pain this child is causing (even when he doesn't know he is causing it) to his adoptive family as his condition seems to worsen- not get better as he grows older.

It just doesn't seem fair. Not one little bit.

Now I say all this knowing that God has a plan. 
And I say that I don't understand His plan. 
But I do wonder- I do have a hard time wrapping my head around the whys.

And even in this Christmas season I still question things. 
And I find it amazing how much this message of HOPE seems to be calling out. 

I wrote my blog post for the jam last week regarding HOPE for the CHRISTMAS season. 
And then have had so many more moments of God showing and telling me of that Hope since then.

Something I had never really thought of before (something the new boy actually indirectly prompted me to think about after our non date Monday the 22nd.  When we were talking about Christmas and his lack of really caring for the holiday- and my honest feelings toward the same but also noting that I love the feeling behind the season).

This Sunday the sermon of the church I was attending (I was out of my own hometown) the pastor even spoke of the hope of the Christmas season.

These are some of the notes I took that morning, he was talking about the Christmas season yet HOPE was so entwined in all of it.
Hope-the joyful anticipation of good

Any area of your life that doesn't have hope is under the influence of a lie.

Hopelessness -the expectation that nothing will change.

We need hope of this side of the miracle- meaning once we have the miracle we don't need to hope for it- after all it has already happened- we have our miracle.
When we don't have hope we don't care about what happens.

We have:

Hope because he hears us

Hope because he is like us

Hope because we can be like him.



Luke 1:5-?

The Christmas story is about the birth of John & Jesus 
(How often do we leave John the Baptist out of this?)

We see more angelic activity in the Christmas story than we do anywhere else.

Luke 1:13

Your petition (prayer) has been heard. (said to Zachariah- John's father)

As the pastor put it,The prayer that you no longer pray has been heard. 
See Zack (yep I'm calling him that for short) and Elizabeth (Mary's cousin) had been barren for a long time.  Zack was old.  I'm not sure how old Elizabeth was but let's just say they waited for a child for many, many, many years. 

Sometimes the realities of life hit and we just stop praying because we can't handle the disappointment.

YET the prayers that you no longer pray have a long shelf life in heaven. It still talks. They are still echoing up there

Acts10:4

In the birth of John the fulfilment of prophecy and prayer gives us hope.

Jesus birth we discover a hope for a different reason.

It's the Me too aspect- someone gets your situation.

The incarnation where God enters into our story. They can understand. This is the God who knows what it's like to be human. A God who's present and knows what it's like.

A God on the cross who says I know how you feel.

We can't say- you don't know how I feel. You don't know what it's like.

He's been through everything we will ever go through.

God became like us so he can know what it is to be like us.

There is Hope in the Christmas story so we could become like him.


If Jesus did all things as the son of God instead of the son of man thru the holy spirit it would be different.  But He didn't- he did it - In right relationship with God.
He couldn't do things by himself and the spirit of God came upon him.

The son of God became and man so man could become sons of God. CS Lewis.

Acts 10:38

Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

Heb10:23-25
Romans 15:5-6

If I could say anything to any of the people mentioned above, even the ones that already know this, would be this thing.

Don't give up hope.
Cling to it.  Hold on tight.
We have HOPE no matter what our circumstances are.
No matter what path we walk or where we are in our life's journey.

We have a God who brings us HOPE, who gives us HOPE if we will just choose to believe in that HOPE. 
The HOPE that is in HIM, not in us, not in ourselves, our jobs, our spouse, families, doctors or anything at all. 
But our HOPE in HIM. 
It changes all the rules of the game we call life.

Faith Barista Jam!--"Your Hopes For Christmas".

It's time for the Faith Barista Jam again.
Hop on over to Bonnie's site if you want more details on what this is all about.
http://www.faithbarista.com/

Otherwise today's Jam topic is:

Your Hopes for Christmas

I'm writing this ahead of time so I don't know what Bonnie is going to say but here are some of my thoughts and feelings on my hopes for Christmas 2010.

I think my biggest hope for this Holiday season is that my focus will be what the season should really be all about.
Not the hustle and bustle that always seems to come this time of year but that the focus will be on

HOPE

I think that's what the season- the birth of Christ - really is about (in a nut shell because don't get me wrong there's the salvation aspect and all that.)

But the birth of Christ to me signifies the Hope that we can have for our lives, our future, our eternity. 

And my wish for this season is that it won't be just a season.  But that will be an ushering of a change in each one of us. 
That the "good will" we feel toward men this season will be something we adapt and allow to transform us not only for the month of December but one that will continue in us into the New Year, that will continue in us as we continue to walk this earth. 

I think if we can focus on these things, then the hustle & bustle, the buying should fade more into the back ground.  So we can really focus on the way we should be living or celebrating the season.

I'm not ready...

We are now 3 days out from the trip. 
I say 3 because Monday is pretty much over and then we leave Friday morning at 8 am so it doesn't get to count as a day. 

And I'm not ready.  I haven't packed.  I haven't even gotten everything that I need. 
I don't feel ready.  I feel ...well, crazy kinda. 
I know it will all come together.  It always does.
And I'm trying not to stress.  But it's hard. 

A friend asked if I was excited about the trip.  Right now I'm not.  Not will all this left to do. 
but I so very much look forward to it.
It getting away from life as I currently know it. To stepping away from me.
To stepping toward God again.  In a real, physical, tangable way. 
I look forward to reaching out to those around me, the nationals that need us, that need God. 
And I look forward to reaching my hands up to Him, for Him to heal my heart. To heal my soul.
Yes the situation I've been in was of my own making.  But thank God that He is not a God that leaves us to wallow in the mud.  He is willing to help us out of it if we ask...heck he's willing to help us even if we don't ask. 
And He loves us, you & me both, regardless of the stupid things we do. 

I asked a friend for some good scripture to help me with my frame of mind for the trip. 
This is one of the ones he sent me. 
I hope you enjoy it and that it touches your heart like it did mine. 

Wouldn't the world be  a better place if we all lived like this?  Wouldn't we be much better people if we did?  I want to....

Romans 12:9 21 the message

9-10Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

11-13Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

14-16Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down. Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.

17-19Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."

20-21Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Daily Bible Verse Inspiration

Like one who takes away a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar poured on soda, is one who sings songs to a heavy heart. – Proverbs 25:20

Today’s commentary by:
Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, GraceNYC.org

Sometimes quick answers are the worse thing to offer when people are going through a hard time.

In well meaning attempts to lift someone’s spirits, we move too fast. It would seem ridiculous to visit someone who has just experienced major surgery and try to pull them out of the hospital bed to get them to exercise.

In the same way, sometimes people need the space to grieve for a while. To try to bypass a heavy heart can add more pain to the process. Sometimes the best thing that we can do is to weep when they weep, or just sit with them in silence. The comfort comes not in our cheerful songs, but our presence.

Ok, I  get the Daily Bible verse to my inbox EVERY day.  Some days the words just seem to leap from the page. I even love the commentary today.

the phrase talking about pulling someone from the hospital bed paints such a great word picture that NO one could miss.

And so often when we are sitting in church or just going about our "normal" christian lives we think it's not ok to feel pain. That there is something wrong with us when we do.
I know I have thought that about my self on more than one occoasion. 
And I know that had to have come from somewhere.  Maybe the devil, maybe the church.  I'm not really sure.

I remember being in YWAM about 10 years ago and working through someone else's pain.  I remember telling her as she was crying, that "this is what God gave us shoulders for".  And today when I read this I remembered that.  And can't help but think that's really what they are for.

Since God did not give us shoulders to carry our own burdens...HE's the one that told us that....but we can help carry the burdens of others.  We can use our shoulders to dry the tears of another, to allow them to rest their weary head, to bring comfort and compassion. To love and care for another.  

Which really is a better use for them than carrying our own burdens, don't ya think? :) 

Galatians 6:2NKJV)
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.