I promise this is not another cheesy “2018 New Years resolution” blog or a “new year new me!” statement.
This blog is just what God has been leading me through recently and boy has it been a whirlwind!
To remind you, back in September at launch everyone received a key with a certain word on it that was meant for that person to seek God in and to grow in. For me, I got “Hope.” I was pretty happy about this as I thought that it did apply to me and thinking that I knew where it had its place in my life. As I’ve always told myself that I want to “spread a message of Hope.” I asked God to show me more of what Hope looks like in this world. Little did I know, I had no idea what it meant to me.
In our first country, we taught English at New Hope School in Cambodia. The name of the school is already enough to convince me that this is where God wants me. As we said our hard goodbyes to these wonderful people, I assured my students that they can become great things one day. That as long as they kept their eyes fixed on greater things, they will reach it. I didn’t even know that what I was saying to them was a “message of Hope.”
In our second country, we worked at an orphanage in Honduras. Our ministry was called “Hope at Hand.” Again, I laughed that this was the name of our ministry. Fast forward towards the end of our time there, I started to feel as though I was confused on what Hope was. On New Years Eve, we were all gathered around the fire listening to our host, David, give a message on walking with Hope into 2018. It was a great word and it wrecked me even more. He said out of faith, hope, and love, Hope is most often underestimated out of the three as well as used out of context. When I heard these words, something just hit me. I knew that I had not a single clue as to where Hopes spot in my life was, what the purpose of it was, why I was always so fixed on it.
I was stuck on this for about a week until we went to debrief. The first morning I woke up and went straight into the word and searching for a definition of hope. As I researched I found that non-biblically, we use the word “hope” to express a desire for something good in the future, but in a biblical sense it is actually the opposite. Biblically, the definition of hope is “a confident expectation and desire for something good in the future.” When I read this, I felt both mind-blown and like something just clicked. I say this because I had no real definition of “hope” but yet, I was already using the gift of hope that God gave me without fully understanding it. This is one of the thousands of reasons why I love my Father: His upside-down kingdom. Living here, you’ll find that just about everything the world has taught you to be right, God says the opppsite. So, this is one of the many revelations He has shown me.
I had the misconception that hope was just a desire for good in the future but with uncertainty. Now I know the truth that real hope is a confident expectation for good, it is certain that good will come. Hope knows where its place is, it knows it is found in Christ. If my hope is found in Christ alone, then you bet I know that I can walk in complete confidence in Him. Since He has defeated death, risen, lives again, and now lives in me; I now have that living hope within me.
So, not only for this year but for the rest of my life…
I will walk with a confident hope. Putting all of my hope in the living God and carrying it to the nations. Let me never forget the good news that is to be shared with every soul. I know that there are some that feel they have no “hope” and are ready to give up. My heart cries for them, so here I am God, send me! Lead me to those who have no hope so I can share the gift of a living hope. Daddy, I know that this is what you have put on my heart, this is my passion. I don’t know when or where I will meet these people but I know that I will, all in your timing.
As I walk into the unknown with a confident hope in You, I will be your vessel and spread a message of “Hope” to those who feel they have no hope.
