How could I have done this? I had, quite literally, the most perfect life. No stress. No pain. No death. Oh, to walk again through the garden with my Maker – I already miss His nearness, His loving gaze. That serpent. He picked up on my wandering eye, my inner thoughts about that tree. SoContinue reading “Women of Hope: Eve”
Author Archives: Shelley Johnson
This Hope: Christ’s Return and Our Resurrection
Sometimes we only know what we know. For instance, at the turn of the millennium, I took part in a study of Revelation – a book of the Bible I knew little about because I’d never really been around anyone willing to do much teaching on it. Let’s face it – its imagery is moreContinue reading “This Hope: Christ’s Return and Our Resurrection”
This Hope: The Promise of Heaven
Once in a while, something happens that forever changes us – it becomes one of those epic life markers where everything we do and have done is categorized as “before ___” or “after ___.” We’ve all lived through a recent epical moment: the pandemic. My mind automatically separates memories as either before or after theContinue reading “This Hope: The Promise of Heaven”
This Hope: An Anchor for Our Souls
Stories abound of boats that survive hurricanes – even when the same storm strips every tree of their leaves and branches, even when buildings are leveled and living creatures perish. The common difference maker between a sunken ship and one that stays afloat? The anchor. When a storm comes barrelling toward her boat, the skipperContinue reading “This Hope: An Anchor for Our Souls”
This Hope: Power in His Promises
As I continue to wrestle with the way suffering builds our hope and how hope can help us endure, I keep visualizing this 80s poster: While this frisky feline holds little hope of getting down without some help, he does have some claws to aid in his hanging on. We, however, lack retractable nails –Continue reading “This Hope: Power in His Promises”
This Hope: Our Endurance
When news of another friend’s loss reaches me, my heart lurches. It aches for the person who now lives without their loved one, who must abandon dreams and change life plans. Then I wonder to God, “How will they ever get through such grief? …How would I?” It makes me think of a story BethContinue reading “This Hope: Our Endurance”
BONUS POST: Lament
Welcome to a bonus post! As we wrestle with hope’s role in our suffering, we need to consider how to express our truest feelings to God when we’re at our lowest. For the vast majority of us, when we hurt, we resist – we hold back on naming what we feel for fear of theContinue reading “BONUS POST: Lament”
This Hope: Suffering Matters
Despite the naive assumption of my twenty-something self – when I believed I could pray, work, or obey enough to avoid the hard paths – suffering is universal. There’s not one thing we can do to evade it. But I have certainly given it my best shot. 😉 During Lent, I took part in aContinue reading “This Hope: Suffering Matters”
This Hope: Resurrection Life
Stepping into the huge sanctuary, I saw beyond the crowd to the stage, draped in vines and flowers as if a garden. Then, eyes wide with wonder, I saw it – the empty tomb. Soon Easter songs echoed around me with praises and truths about “Christ risen,” and my heart absorbed every note, every emotion.Continue reading “This Hope: Resurrection Life”
God of Hope: Transcendent and Immanent
It’s morning on the third day. The tomb is empty. And the Eleven (once Twelve) are gathered to hear the bizarre, perplexing stories of Jesus appearing to the women, to Peter, and to the two from Emmaus (Luke 24:33-35). Confusion reigns where shock and grief still consume – “We had hoped that he was theContinue reading “God of Hope: Transcendent and Immanent”
Shelley Johnson 