Fri. 1/1/21
I don’t know what kind of 2020 you had but no matter what, I hope you have a Better, Blessed New Year!
As mentioned in a previous post, I write prayers for a group I call “The GLPers”. This is one of them with a theme of hope. What I write usually starts with a personal observation or story and in this instance, a Bible verse too.
“Thank you, God of hope, for filling me with all joy and peace in believing, through the experience of my faith, that by the power of the Holy Spirit I may abound and overflow with confidence in Your promises.” – Adapted from Romans 15:13, Battlefield of the Mind New Testament Bible (Joyce Meyer)
I love hope. At times it’s the only thing to hold onto, and it always gets me through. Yet I have not learned how to let it sustain me in the joy and peace that the above revised scripture implies could happen, and ‘we’ have figured out several reasons why. (Thank You, Holy Spirit!)
I usually hold onto hope TIGHTLY. I think I know how the hope ‘should’ be fabricated, what it ‘should’ look like, and when it ‘should’ happen. (Not to brag – but I appear to have an amazing abundance of control issues! Woo-hoo!) Then when what is hoped for doesn’t pan out to those specifications I can miss on the much greater opportunities & blessings that are presented because I don’t recognize them. They were generated to God’s specs and timing instead, which are far and away superior to mine.
I’ve seen this but in a different way in others, too. I was recently talking to some wonderful people. One of the women, who is greatly respected and admired by many for who she is let alone all she does, made the comment that she doesn’t see that what she does is ‘all that much’. Yet as those who know her can attest to, she makes a huge difference in a positive way for many. I wonder, does this lovely lady hope she can be a blessing to others, then doesn’t live in the peace and joy that comes from knowing she already is?
We can also keep our hopes so microscopic compared to what God has for us that He can’t bless us with all of it because we won’t open ourselves up to receive it. An analogy I heard for this is: We sit on the soggy lawn in our yard playing in a mud puddle for years even though we no longer have fun doing it. It’s all we think to believe for. Yet God has whatever our own personal version of Disneyland is, waiting for us just around the corner if we’d only realize what we’re worthy of in His eyes.
What about you (yes, YOU)? Is there a possibility you’re missing out on the amazing peace and joy of God’s love and many of His blessings for you? Maybe it’s time for us to say (repeatedly), “Yes, God” and revel in what He’ll do in, thru, and for us now that we let Him.
Thank You God for all that You do for, in and thru us and others. Your wonders & blessings never cease if we hope for and then look for them with open eyes, hands, and hearts. AMEN!!!!
I hope you have a great weekend. Let’s meet again on Monday!
