December 15
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Romans 8:24-25
I am not a patient person. I like to fix things quickly.
Many years ago now, a family member of mine was seriously addicted to drugs. It was a very long, very lonely, and very painful time. I prayed and I hoped for this person to recover. How do you have hope for something or someone over whom you have no control? There is nothing one can do but hope... patiently or impatiently.
Hoping is risky stuff...you might be disappointed over and over so sometimes we think it best not to hope for anything. For me, the lessons were so painful, I would get excited over some sign of recovery only to have my hope diminished. I fell deeper in despair and tried to shut down my feelings. Now in trying to protect myself from pain, I also cut myself off from the good things life has to offer.
Hope came to me in the form of a person who I could trust, who was patient and encouraged me to find help; not for my loved one but for myself, the only person I was capable of controlling. It was an act of God. God put this person in my life at just the right time, I’m certain of it. In seeking out help, I found so many more people with similar experiences and stories of hope to share. God provides the gift of hope to every one of us. We don’t have to believe at first that it WILL happen, we only have to believe that it COULD. It takes just opening up our hearts and our minds a tiny bit to listen to possibilities.
During this season of Advent, I imagine that when unmarried Mary found out she was to have a baby, it was hard to be hopeful, to be joyful like other young mothers to be. I imagine she was scared and she left town to visit someone she trusted, Elizabeth, who would understand. I imagine it was a crisis but she was saved by hope. She hoped God would protect her, that Joseph would believe her, and that her unborn baby would be healthy. She sought out help from a wiser, patient person that God placed in her life.
Through my experience, I learned that hope is coming to believe that God is greater than ourselves and can restore us to sanity when we are lost. It means believing that “all things are possible with God”...that even an impatient person can change and that you don’t have to fix things alone. God surrounds us with hope in the people we share time with.
Nancy Sewell
Many years ago now, a family member of mine was seriously addicted to drugs. It was a very long, very lonely, and very painful time. I prayed and I hoped for this person to recover. How do you have hope for something or someone over whom you have no control? There is nothing one can do but hope... patiently or impatiently.
Hoping is risky stuff...you might be disappointed over and over so sometimes we think it best not to hope for anything. For me, the lessons were so painful, I would get excited over some sign of recovery only to have my hope diminished. I fell deeper in despair and tried to shut down my feelings. Now in trying to protect myself from pain, I also cut myself off from the good things life has to offer.
Hope came to me in the form of a person who I could trust, who was patient and encouraged me to find help; not for my loved one but for myself, the only person I was capable of controlling. It was an act of God. God put this person in my life at just the right time, I’m certain of it. In seeking out help, I found so many more people with similar experiences and stories of hope to share. God provides the gift of hope to every one of us. We don’t have to believe at first that it WILL happen, we only have to believe that it COULD. It takes just opening up our hearts and our minds a tiny bit to listen to possibilities.
During this season of Advent, I imagine that when unmarried Mary found out she was to have a baby, it was hard to be hopeful, to be joyful like other young mothers to be. I imagine she was scared and she left town to visit someone she trusted, Elizabeth, who would understand. I imagine it was a crisis but she was saved by hope. She hoped God would protect her, that Joseph would believe her, and that her unborn baby would be healthy. She sought out help from a wiser, patient person that God placed in her life.
Through my experience, I learned that hope is coming to believe that God is greater than ourselves and can restore us to sanity when we are lost. It means believing that “all things are possible with God”...that even an impatient person can change and that you don’t have to fix things alone. God surrounds us with hope in the people we share time with.
Nancy Sewell