Hope

Hope...a simple four letter word that changes lives. Hope is a huge part of what Easter is all about. Hope. It doesn't have to be much...you've heard the saying a glimmer of hope. That isn't much hope but it's enough to change a person's perspective. Check out this verse from Ecclesiastes...Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! (Ecc. 9:4). It's that a great reminder. One of my favorite verses is about hope...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. (Is. 40:31). Paul teaches us...Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5) And the writer of Hebrews emphasizes... Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. (Heb. 10:23) Because the One whom we hope in is faithful. Peter had this hope as well...Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. (1 Peter 1:3-4a)  For Peter as well as Paul and others, their hope was a living hope because of Jesus' resurrection. I want you to realize that hope is secure. Hope is grounded. Hope is more than wishful thinking. Because the hope that we can have in Christ is living. And it's a living hope because Christ is alive just as He had promised. Several times He told His followers that He had to go to Jerusalem to die but that in 3 days He would rise. In my pastor's sermon this morning, he pointed out that the one's who seemed to remember or take seriously Jesus' words were the religious leaders. Although they denied His divinity they knew He was telling the truth. We serve a risen Savior, He is in the world today, I know that He is living whatever men may say...He lives, He lives salvation to impart, You ask me how I know He lives He lives within my heart. That is an unswerving, undeniable, everlasting HOPE!

Saturday

Saturday, that day between Friday and Sunday...this week it's between Good Friday and Easter. There isn't anything written in the Bible about this day. For the followers of Jesus, who were Jews, it was the Sabbath. They were restricted in what they could do. The disciples were in hiding. Jerusalem was a large crowded city, surely it would have been easy to get lost. Were they together? Had they scattered? They must have been terrified. Shocked. Dismayed. Discouraged. Not to mention the sorrow, grief, and tears. Lots of tears. Although they had seen Jesus raise the dead...more than once...there's no way He could raise Himself, could He? Hopelessness would soon change. Just wait till tomorrow. 

Nothing...

What can wash away my sin?
What can make me whole again?

Nothing...

nothing I can manufacture...
nothing I can purchase...
nothing I can borrow...
nothing I can steal...
nothing I can trade...
nothing I can conjure... 

The only thing that can change my nothing into something, into everything, is Jesus' blood.

O precious is the flow 
That makes me white as snow
No other fount I know
Nothing but the blood of Jesus

Seven Year Ache

I've been thinking about what to write on here even in my sleep or in the in-between awake and asleep this morning. I've not blogged as much as when this thing started in 2010. Guess I feel as if I don't have anything of significance to say. 

Here we are at the 7 year mark of our world being changed. Our reality and the girls' reality both changed that day but I believe their transformation was a lot more intense. They became who they were always created to be. They are the complete fullness of themselves as God intended our lives to be before the Fall. The only other people to experience this on earth are Adam and Eve and they traded it for a piece of fruit. Hard to imagine trading perfection for something so common. But we continue to do it every day. Many times our temptations are even more menial. 

All I know is Kayla and Alicia are experiencing true life and we're wading around in this thing we call 'life'. We do get caught up in all this world's trappings. We long for the day when our faith is made sight.

These 7 years have brought a lot of blessings and a few sorrows. Even now, many of our friends are mourning the death of a precious 17 year old girl who is now free from Cystic Fibrosis. She, for the first time in years, is breathing freely, breathing deeply and the air she breathes is nothing less than heavenly. 

We are now at the point where the girls have been away more than half of Jeromy's life. He still remembers, he remembers more than I do at times. He still cries. Not only today but random days throughout the year simply because he misses his sisters. I see such a real faith in his eyes. I pray he never loses that. 

I thought that the more time that passed the easier their loss would be but it seems to be the opposite. We say time heals all hurts but it's not time that heals, it's God. And that happens only when we allow God to heal us regardless of the amount of time it takes. 

I still see their pictures daily and remember how they were and can't imagine how they truly are today. But I have an undying hope that we will be reunited again some day; until that day we walk by faith.

20Fifteen

Happy New Year...we're only 9 days into it so it's still new. Been thinking about a few things these past days. While on vacation at my parents' home, my brother-in-law was reading a devotion to close out the year that challenged him to pick a word for the year. We had fun as a family 'helping' him discover a word. He finally decided on 'committed'. That is a good word. So, if I were to choose a word for 2015, what would it be? Well...9 days in and I'm still thinking about it. I was listening to the radio one night and they asked the same question. A lady responded, on Christian radio nonetheless, 'thrifty'.  I'm not trying to be judgmental, but I was thinking, 'that's not too spiritual. Can't you do better than that?' At least she had a word. I may be overthinking this whole thing. As I've thought of different words, I've thought can I live up to this for 365 days, now 356 days? So, here and now, I choose the word-TRUSTING. 'Simply trusting every day, trusting through the stormy way, even when my faith is small, trusting Jesus that is all.' 

Yesterday, word was out that Andrae Crouch passed away. His music has influenced my life and the life of church music for years. One of the songs that keeps coming to mind the last 24 hours reflects my word choice.