Hope

My friend Sue, at Country Pleasures, wrote about hope yesterday. Hope is a very powerful thing. Many years ago, when my oldest son was a toddler, I had a friend who was living near the poverty level just as my family was. We spent time together frequently; because, we attended church together and had sons about the same age. We both struggled a great deal with just putting food on the table let alone all the other needs we had. There was a major difference between us though.

HOPE

I told my husband that the difference was that we were hopefully poor and she was hopelessly poor. I had my husband who was trying to provide for us. Her husband was making more money; but, he kept out a large percentage for his personal use and gave her barely enough to keep going. The key was that I had hope that things would get better. She really didn't expect anything to improve. In fact, she was tearing down her house with her own hands with her hopelessness.

Hope for hope's sake may help some; but, I must hope in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of God our Creator. He is the only real hope. He saves us from being punished with hell and eternal separation from God for our sins IF we confess that he is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead. Romans 10:9. We have to confess our sins and believe that he paid the price for our sins. 1 John 1:9.

He is not just hope for salvation from hell. He's also our hope for today, for everything we face, for everything we need. He promised to never leave us or forsake us. We need him daily. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds with the Living Word of God, the Holy Bible. Romans 12:12.

You know, you do become like those you hang around with. This year, I want to hang around with Jesus more and more in his holy, true, living word. How about you?

Blessings to you!

Laura