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
This is one of my life verses. It became that in one of the darkest seasons in my life when it felt like every area of my life was falling apart.
We had moved to Texas to take a church. I didn’t want to move. In fact, I had dug my heels in for a while but finally gave in reluctantly and with a ‘martyr chip’ on my shoulder. The church was small, the parsonage (our new house) was dingy and I had to go find a full-time job.I was focusing on all we had left behind in California – the cooler weather, family, friend, larger church, my interpreting agency, etc. Our oldest daughter started acting out with even greater rebellion and hated everything about her new life.
I led worship at the church so I was always listening to new music to introduce to our congregation. I remember getting a CD with new songs and my heart was captivated by a simple melody that incorporated this verse as its content. I started singing it all the time. The truth of this verse started softening my hard heart of despair and replacing it with an expectancy for the possibilities of the future.
I was in a very tough place as my husband was struggling with the heat and felt exhausted most of the time. I felt like it was all up to me. My mother-in-love decided to move out to Texas so she could live close to us and moved in with us. The final blow was the news that I was showing symptoms of lupus. This last one really got my attention.
I had been so busy complaining about the things I had no control over that I had lost all hope. That weekend I made the following hope decision:
I am living this HOPE verse every day by proclaiming the truth and having so much hope that it overflows!
It wasn’t an immediate change and took some hard work on my part. Sixteen years later, my life has been transformed by hope. I will be sharing from these transforming hope experiences in the next few blogs – 30 more to be exact. Please join me in the journey as you discover all the ways that HOPE WINS!
Prayer
Thank you, Father, for being a God of HOPE! I invite You and your hope into my current situation. I have lost joy and peace over circumstances that are out of my control. I now see that You want to fill me completely with all joy and all peace no matter what is going on. I recognize that the only one I can change is myself so allow my hard heart to be softened by your Holy Spirit. There is no lack in You and you are not stressed over these circumstances. Instead, you are working it all for Your glory and my growth. You have more than enough hope to deposit in me that I can be overflowing with that positive expectation that good is going to come out of the current disasters it seems I am facing. They are not the end of my world as I know it but, rather, the open door for Your glory and purpose in my life. All of this is the gift of Your Holy Spirit in my life right at this moment. Thank You for caring enough to complete this work that You have started. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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