Yet I Still Dare to Hope
So this past Sunday was the start of the Advent season. It's a time of preparation for Christmas. In many churches, the messages will be on Hope, Peace, Joy and Love on the Sundays leading up to Christmas. This past Sunday, my pastor spoke on Hope. And wow, did it minister to my spirit. He gave an example of if we are interviewing for a new job but we don't get the job, our hope isn't in the job, it's in God. And if we're praying for a healing for someone and the healing doesn't come, our hope isn't in the healing, it's in God. It seems elementary, like you're probably saying "duh Eva." But you know when you've heard something a lot but all of a sudden, you hear it again and your heart really hears it?
My family has had a difficult year. Basically wondering how we are going to survive financially. And my hope can't be in getting a raise or finding another way to make money. My hope has to be in God alone.
My pastor ended Sunday with this Scripture. It's long but the point is so good. Lamentations 3:1-20, "I am the one who has seen the afflictions that come from the rod of the Lord’s anger. He has led me into darkness, shutting out all light. He has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. He has made my skin and flesh grow old. He has broken my bones. He has besieged and surrounded me with anguish and distress. He has buried me in a dark place, like those long dead. He has walled me in, and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains. And though I cry and shout, he has shut out my prayers. He has blocked my way with a high stone wall; he has made my road crooked. He has hidden like a bear or a lion, waiting to attack me. He has dragged me off the path and torn me in pieces, leaving me helpless and devastated. He has drawn his bow and made me the target for his arrows. He shot his arrows deep into my heart. My own people laugh at me. All day long they sing their mocking songs. He has filled me with bitterness and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink. He has made me chew on gravel. He has rolled me in the dust. Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is. I cry out, 'My splendor is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!' The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss."
Isn't that a terrible feeling? I feel horrible for him and yet, at times I have felt this way. Now read verse 21. "Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this." And he goes on to list all the things he hopes in. His faithful love, His mercies, His faithfulness. I just felt like WOW when we read through these. I came home and created this so I wouldn't forget. So, I can hang it up and when my circumstances feel as though they will overwhelm me, I remember, "Yet I still dare to hope."
I've created several colors you can download.
Lamentations - Black
Happy Advent season.
P.S. Not sure why some of the backgrounds look milky. They shouldn't look that way when you download them.
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