photo: flickr cc/ leland francisco
Something strange darkened my doorway this year. It cast a shadow I couldn’t erase. I’ve felt spiritually quarantined. Lost. Sequestered in silence, waiting for the cool drink of water that is redemption. Like the enslaved Israelites I long for a savior. I long for the hope found in an anointed savior who promises to make it all right. I have hope.
I’m waiting for my faith to catch up with everything I believe, for my heart to accept the things I already know. Yet even as my spirit aches, labors long with this soul-remembered promise I feel it. It’s expressed in my faith as I continue to search for God…even when I grow weary from believing.
I have hope. It’s birthed in the secret spaces of the heart. Chambers once soldered shut…opened. Once cauterised vessels now release streams of life-giving blood. The levees broke, the water rose. Into the chaos and clutter of a world struggling with the sin of systematic injustice, a baby was born.
Yes, we’ve been here before.
Whatever has happened, will happen again; whatever has been done, will be done again. There is nothing new on earth. – Ecclesiastes 1:9
Today God’s using one of the least encouraging scriptures to set my heart right. He’s shifting the atmosphere, rearranging the floor plan of my stubborn faith.
The Israelites got Moses and in the middle of the story a baby was born.
Focusing on what He’s done and what He promises to do keeps me grounded. From my view, the birth of a baby provides enough hope for me to stay the course. If there’s ever been a reason to believe anything in this world its new life.
In the day-to-day it means He’ll see me through this thing called marriage, help me raise my kids…do the laundry, plan the party, strategize the next big event at work, provide manna in the form of new ideas when I feel stuck. He’ll be the judge and high priest for every evil that ails this earth.
God will do what He said He’d do.
I have hope.
Let your handmaiden find grace in your sight…#GiveMeGrace
♥
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I love the hope in your words and the stirring in your heart. May God’s presence enter your heart and continue to give you hope in the uncertainty and understanding in the in between. Blessings!
Mary Geisen recently posted…What Will You Bring the King?…The Weekend Brew
No matter what it looks like, this is a good space Mary. In the middle of my struggle I’m watching God hold me through my connection with others. Your presence here is part of that. Thank you.
lisha epperson recently posted…Give Me Grace : Fixing My Faith, Finding Hope
Beloved friend… my heart burns with this prayer for you tonight – that you’ll know it, tangibly – His nearness to you. His affection for you. His delight over you. The ferocity of His commitment to your heart, to your story. Much love, Lisha, my sister.
Dana Butler recently posted…Uncovering Sacred Flames {and Other Thoughts Upon Turning 34}
I went to sleep with your words last night Dana. Thank you.
lisha epperson recently posted…Give Me Grace : Fixing My Faith, Finding Hope
I’m glad… holding you in prayer, friend.
Dana Butler recently posted…Uncovering Sacred Flames {and Other Thoughts Upon Turning 34}
Don’t worry about it. You have hope. And your heart.
I do. I do have hope. And being in this strange space with God is building my faith all the more. I’m struggling, I’m wrestling…but I have not given up. Amen.
lisha epperson recently posted…Give Me Grace : Fixing My Faith, Finding Hope
Hoping right beside you, dear one. Thank you.
Sheila Seiler Lagrand recently posted…Weekend Reflection: Thankful
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and now, having met you, I can feel your actual presence when you share these words. Love you Sheila.
lisha epperson recently posted…Give Me Grace : Fixing My Faith, Finding Hope
[…] #GiveMeGrace […]
I have hope, too. How can we live without it? Hugs to you, my friend.
Sandra Heska King recently posted…Scripture Sunday: Root of Jesse
We cant Sandra and even in my distress I feel Him. Can’t let go. loved spending time with you in the Canyon. What a treat.
“Focusing on what He’s done and what He promises to do keeps me grounded.” This is also true for me. When I start focusing on circumstances and people I can feel overwhelmed, but when I focus on God things are brought into perspective. I am reminded that I can’t fix things but I can trust in the One who can. We can have hope because of who He is.
Gayl Wright recently posted…Taking Time to Pause
Well that’s just it Gayl…His proven track record is what I hold onto. Each victory, each intercession and holy interruption is a memory I won’t forget.
God will do what He said He would do. Whenever I feel lost, I think of those places in the desert where God did amazing things for the Israelites, and they erected stones to remember. And I think of the times I felt Him clearly, so I remember how real he was then now, in times where I don’t feel Him. Praying for you. Thank you for how you encourage us in the middle of your own soul’s encouragement.
Lynne Streeter Childress recently posted…Cook YOUR Food, or Being the You You Were Meant To Be
I have memories like that too Lynne…where His presence was felt so deeply I couldn’t deny the reality of His existence…no matter what anyone said or how I felt. he rules and reigns and is bigger than my doubt and frustration. Blessings friend.
Praise God that in Him, we have reason to hope! Thanks for the beautiful post & for hosting! God bless.
Laurie Collett recently posted…Why Read the King James Bible?
Agreed Laurie, He is…and there are so many reasons to hope. Happy Sunday!
Thanks for the beautiful post & for hosting. God bless!
Laurie Collett recently posted…Why Read the King James Bible?
There are days I feel like I’ve been through this before – can’t I get beyond it – and I’m holding on tight to that hope along side you – hope and faith that He takes care of the daily – the big and little of the daily! Shalom Lisha – holistic, deep to your soul-toes God’s kind of Shalom!
When I was little, I had a cousin I admired. I still do. Everything she did, I wanted to do, so when we she started saying of people she admired, “She’s good people,” I started saying it, too. Lisha, you are good people. That just the way it is. And you and I? We serve a good God.
I feel a restlessness, but I keep finding myself sitting in the front row of that church we went to together one sweltering Sunday morning and I remember how we heard about hope that day, together. I know you remember it, too, and I’m glad we’ve each got that touchstone to return to when we need it.
Deidra recently posted…Grace is Reality
I’m glad we have that memory too Deidra. Hugging you in that heat, teary eyed and emotionally drained we got a drink at the Wellspring. He is good.
[…] with the beautiful Kelli, Jennifer & Lisha and their online […]
Dear Lisha. You said the words for me. I haven’t written much since November. I seem to be in this space with you. So much unknowing and not much energy to try to write about it except in my journal. but these words “:I’m waiting for my faith to catch up with everything I believe, for my heart to accept the things I already know” are powerful to me. I read it to my husband and he said “WOW.” He knows the place I am in. God seems to have been using others to say what is in my heart and you are one of them. Are we all there together? I hope to meet you next May in NE.
Carol Longenecker Hiestand recently posted…The most wasted of days is the one without laughter!
It’s one of the reasons I reading online. Each voice is unique and sometimes I need hear what I’m feeling from someone else. Oh. I’d better meet you in. May Carol. I’m really looking forward to that.
Hope is part of the promise! It helps us grab onto truth and rest in expectation. He promises abounding hope for us in From 15:13. Proverbs 13:12 reminds us that faith in the face of adversity gives wings to hope with sprouts life. Praise the Lord for Hope!
Bless you.
Dawn
Dawn recently posted…Advent of Hope
Praise The Lord for hope indeed Dawn. It’s all I’ve written about lately. Somehow it always comes back to hope.