Hope?

 18 posts in 12 months.

2021 was a pretty quiet year on here.

It wasn't intentional. I started the year with plans for more, but then the events that would make up the year began to unfold and I didn't know what to write. I typically write about what I'm learning or studying here, but, for me, 2021 was really just about surviving more than anything else. Much of the time when I sat down to write, I had nothing to say.

Now, we're four days into the new year and I'm looking ahead to what 2022 might bring. I'm hopeful and I'm hesitant at the same time.

Hopeful about what could come and what God could do.

Hesitant because, after almost two years of disappointment and cancelled things, I'm finding it hard to fully engage in too much planning and looking ahead.

I'm wrestling with hope.

What does it mean?

How do you hold onto it when it seems to be taken away regularly?

Is there a place I can actually put my hope that will never disappoint me or fail me?

Romans 15:13 is a verse one of my friends prays regularly over others in conversation, that talks about hope. She did exactly that on Sunday after church in our conversation. 

It says:

"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."

The God of hope.

This is the God we serve. A God of hope.

When I read this verse this morning and really took some time to think about it, it became clear that hope is possible because we serve a God of hope.

Not only do we serve a God of hope, we can be overflowing with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit in us. It doesn't seem that this is something that is dependent on circumstances. So, hope is possible regardless of what's going on in our lives. It is possible because we have the Holy Spirit.

Hope is something I know Scripture talks about a lot. And I think we need to look at what all of Scripture says to really understand it. That's something I'm going to be doing for the next while as we begin 2022. As I learn more about it, I'll share it here.

For now, I'm holding onto those words Paul wrote in Romans 15:13:

"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."