Have you ever looked up and it was just there?
An amazing sunset, spread across the horizon – it takes your breath away. You didn’t earn it or strive for it, it was just there, and you were privileged to look up and see Heaven’s painting.
We’re caught off guard by sickness, by hurtful words or wrongful actions, an unexpected bill, or a flat tire as the rain begins to pour. Yeah, we all have THOSE days. We come down with the flu in the midst of a chaotic season in our lives, and have family dinners that are anything but peaceful; days of delays.
Other times, we’re caught off guard by a unique spark of hope; it is just there! It appears like the sunset we didn’t expect. It shows up in the midst of routine or the “normal” cereal eating kind of morning, but make no mistake, it is real and it is there.
The arrival comes with no striving or looking, this time. You sense it. You feel it. You know it. Hope is thick in the air, like you can grasp it and partake of it. A day filled with hope out of nowhere.
A twinkling inside the soul; something pushing it’s way forward causing you and me to take notice and believe hope. Believe all that God has promised will come to pass. We all need “a hope busting forward” kind of day. In fact, maybe we should expect them! God is relentlessly faithful even when we’re minding our own business.
[Tweet “We all need “a hope busting forward” kind of day.”]
No extraordinary happenings today, no big news, nothing of significance taking place. In fact we may still be facing hard facts of life; what feels like unanswered prayers lingering, yet hope is evident.
There are difficult days where hope seems faint, if sensed or felt at all. There are other days we are too busy to notice if hope is present or not. Then there are days, where hope pushes through our regularly scheduled, mundane, programed day, and makes itself known, rather Himself known, for God is our Hope!
If we fight for hope on days when we can barely catch a glimpse of it, then on days when hope bubbles forward unexpectedly, take hold of that spark and ride it for all it’s worth! I promise that you will not regret it.
Maybe you have a dream that has not taken shape yet. Keep dreaming, keep shaping your future by speaking words of heaven over your life, as you take earthly steps toward that dream, all the while with your eyes steadfast on Jesus! “ . . . your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10 NIV). “Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalms 37:4).
Maybe you are working hard towards a goal you have yet to reach. Keep reaching, working, and believing the One who can, will make it possible! “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward” (Colossians 3:23-24 NIV).
Maybe you have discovered a passion that you are not sure how to pursue or if you should pursue it. Start pursuing and see if perhaps the Lord shows up and shows out, on your behalf. “Let’s go across to the outpost of those pagans,” Jonathan said to his armor bearer. “Perhaps the Lord will help us, for nothing can hinder the Lord (1st Samuel 14:6 NLT).
Maybe you’re in a situation beyond your control, that is taking every bit of your stamina to endure and every bit of God in you, to not lose you. Keep standing strong and hang tightly to the God who is and to the God who can! “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4 NIV). NEVER STOP HOPING!
Ever grab onto that spark of hope and then it’s snuffed out so, so fast?
Dirty dishes, cooking again, that hard thing, that relationship, and another day of work – when you rather be ______. Me too! Yet, when I deliberately turn away from the temptation to become frustrated with reality, and I begin to offer gratefulness for the very things I’m disliking, I again choose hope.
It’s not easy is it?
I know and NO it’s not easy!
I’m there with you trying to decide if I should give in to the grumble that brings me low or rise up in gratefulness to see hope. Going higher hurts at first, but the reward is always greater!
When hope is evident, like the sunset you didn’t expect – don’t let it slip by or get snuffed out. Grasp it!
When hope feels lost, I invite you to look up, choose thankfulness in the midst of pain, and let your heart glimpse HOPE once again. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).
[Tweet “Thanksgiving turns the doorknob, cracking open the door, just enough, for my heart to see hope.”]
Join me, let’s crack the door open together!
Joelle
