Shelley Johnson

Women of Hope: Eve

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. So curious about what I’d know when I ate of it, I veritably leapt at the offer to take and eat. One bite. One stinkin’ bite, and now everything is lost. I should have trusted my Maker instead of wanting to be like Him.

Oh how I hate that a beloved creature of the Garden had to die to cover my nakedness, but the shame I feel overwhelms my senses. Everything in me wants to hide – from myself, from Him. No matter where I hide, though, I cannot escape the pain of knowing our children will never walk the Garden or know the Maker the way we did.

How am I still alive?

Ah, now I’m beginning to understand – death comes slowly. Universally. Not for just the two of us, but every creature, every plant, every person. What have I done? How can I go on? And, yet, I wonder about my Offspring who will crush that serpent’s head. Do I dare hope there’s a day of redemption to come?

Eve may be the poster woman for how not to live a life of faith. The first chance she’s given to make a choice between self and God, greed and trust, she fails. She doubts God. She listens to the logic of a lying snake. She reaches for the forbidden fruit to taste and to take – to take what she wants at the cost of everything she has known.

Eve puts her hope in herself. In a lie that she can be like God.

And, before we judge her too harshly, let’s look at our own arms that stretch for the fruit just within reach. The fruit of success. Of happiness. Of comfort. Of approval.

How much like Eve we are – so quick to put our hope in other people, our own plans, and in the world’s ways.¹ But before we pluck leaves in an attempt to cover our own shame, let’s look to the Maker, to the One who made a promise to Eve. And to us.

Hope in the Midst of Curses

Consequences abound in the Garden where curiosity transformed into doubt, where the created betrayed the Creator:

The woman, the mother of life, will still bear the fruit of her womb – but not without great pain.
The man, the first of all humanity, will still pluck the fruit of the vine – but not without great toil.
The pair of them, husband and wife, will have to overcome much strife to be fruitful in love.
The shrewd serpent will slither all his days along the dust and dirt – his only fruit, the venom of each strike of a heel.
Even the seed of Eve – the One not yet born – will know the serpent’s bruising bite. But, He brings the final, crushing blow.
(Genesis 3:14-19)

The promise God slips into the punishments for such disobedience becomes the hope Eve needs to step into her role as “Mother of Life.”¹ Desiring her seed to become the One Who Redeems, Eve puts her hope in Cain: “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man” (Genesis 4:1). But his own pride and jealousy drive him to murder Abel, his brother.

Hope, once again refocused on the Maker, Eve bears fruit a third time: “God has granted me another child in place of Abel” (Genesis 4:25). God has granted, or appointed, another son, Seth, to Mother Eve. Not the Redeemer himself, but the father of the people who would one day call on the name of the Lord – and bear the One who would ultimately crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15, 4:26).

Take and Eat

Eve becomes the first woman to disobey the Lord, to “take and eat” that thing she’s called to avoid, to stay away from. But she’s not the last. Potiphar’s wife tries to take Joseph, her husband’s servant. Queen Jezebel gives it her best effort to take the lives of all God’s prophets. Delilah betrays Sampson by taking his hair, his strength. In short, the Bible is full of women who follow Eve’s “take and eat” model. In other words, Eve is only the first of us.¹

Not so ironically, Eve’s Seed, the Prince of Life,¹ takes and eats – our sin and shame, our pain and powerlessness, our grief and guilt. He takes all of it onto Himself. Then, in a twist of redemptive movement, this Redeemer offers us His body. To take and eat (Matthew 26:26). To swallow pride and take in humility. To consume His constancy, His confidence, His character – so that we can at last become like Him (Romans 8:29).

Eve had the right idea – she just went about it all wrong. Her misplaced hopes cost her and all of creation wholeness and holy presence, but when her Seed steps onto the dust where the serpent slithers, everything changes. The earth and everything in it shifts toward the hope of a day when a final redeeming blow will crush the Father of Lies once and for all.

And, on that Day we will at last gather around the table of the Wedding Feast of the Lamb and hear Him say, through tears of great joy, “take and eat”¹ (Revelation 19:6-9).

Till then, my friends, we can rejoice in our reality that the Redeemer has already come. His bruising ended with a victorious defeat of death, allowing Him to inflict the first blow upon the head of that shrewd snake. Sure, he still slithers, seeking to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), but his power is now greatly limited. Because Jesus. The Seed of Eve has given us power through His Spirit in us to stand firm against every scheme of the enemy (Ephesians 6:10-11).

Friends, we know in whom we place our hope. So, the next time a forbidden fruit tempts our eyes, our bodies, we can remember the One who has given us all that we need to overcome the desire to disobey (1 Corinthians 10:13). And He has given us a visual of what’s to come – a walk in the garden with our Maker, whose voice will beckon us closer, whose eyes will shimmer with love for His child of hope.

Father God, how perfect You are to have begun with a Garden and to end with one, as well. We know that You looked upon creation and called it good. We are also aware that in your omniscience, You knew before You formed Adam and Eve that they would betray You, yet You looked upon them and called them VERY good. How much hope your declaration gives us as we continue to fight our own fruit-taking temptations. Thank You for looking at us with eyes of love and calling us very good. Lord Jesus, it boggles our minds to think that You would offer us your body as a remembrance of all You did on the cross to take our sins and make us whole. It is with great humility and gratitude that we take and eat during Holy Communion as an act of faith and hope for all You have done for us. Holy Spirit, because You dwell within us, we know we have all we need to overcome every temptation and to stand against every lying scheme of the enemy. We pray that, like Eve, we would put our hope in the promises of God, in the Redeemer who has come to crush the serpent’s head on our behalf. Today we choose hope because we choose to trust the One who will one day defeat Satan and death – and usher us back into the Garden with our Maker. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
(Inspired by Sally Lloyd-Jones’ poem;¹ Genesis 1:4,10,12,18,21,31; 2:8; Revelation 22:1-3; 1 John 3:8; 4:9-10; Galatians 1:4; Luke 22:19; Ephesians 6:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:18 NLT)

Welcome to our summer series all about Women of Hope! Each week we’ll consider how women in Scripture lived with hope despite what they faced and felt. As I did with Eve at the beginning of today’s post, I’ll open with a vignette of each woman — imagining how she might have thought and felt in her situation then how she looked to God for hope. I hope this part of each post will capture your curiosity and cause you to want to dig deeper into the Word and lean more closely into God’s presence.

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

1 – I drew so much inspiration for this post from Sally Lloyd-Jones’ poem about Eve in the book Faithful. Here are a few of the lines that really grabbed me:

And at once we see.
The lie that worked on you, Eve,
works in us still:
“God is not good.
God is not kind.
God does not love you.
If you do what He says, you won’t be happy.”

Eve, you’re not the worst of us.
You’re just the first of us. (p.94)

– – – – – – – – – –

And, Eve, your name–given to you after the sentence of death–
carries no blame.
Eve–”Mother of Life.”
Your name is a promise
telling you the true story of who you are:
It is through you, Eve – not, Adam – that Life will come.

Someone will be born into your family, Eve.
He will crush the serpent
and the serpent will strike His heel.
He is the Prince of Life Himself,
born to die – and in dying, to destroy death!

Those thorns on the ground will one day make a crown.

You see, Eve, the first gospel isn’t Matthew.
It’s Genesis.

And the first person to hear the gospel announced, isn’t Mary.
It’s you. (p.99)

– – – – – – – – – –

Faced with choice–we reach for the fruit.

We take and eat.

Such small words.
Such an easy act.
So violent the breaking.
So hard the undoing.

God will taste centuries of slander and ridicule and hatred. He will will taste poverty, homelessness, scandalous birth, suffering and betrayal–and violent death–before He will take those same words and turn them into our salvation:
“Take and Eat.” (p.99)

– – – – – – – – – –

At the end of time,
Eve, I see you at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.
When everything sad will come untrue.
When He will wipe every tear from our eyes.
When we will see that there never was a tear shed that was lost.
When we will see how He has woven everything together in this,
His beautiful story of Love, to do such great good to us that we
Will hardly be able to take it in …and only fall on our knees in
adoration.

And as we sit together at His table, Eve,
I hear Him say with tears and great laughter–
“Take
And eat!”

And we do. (p.101)

You’ll hear much about the collaborative project, Faithful, throughout our series on “Women of Hope” this summer because it is packed with poems, essays, and songs about women in the Bible. As noted above, the poem by Sally Lloyd-Jones about Eve is part of the book. There’s also a song on the Faithful album about Eve — “We Do Not Labor in Vain” by Mission House, Janice Gaines, Christa Wells, and Taylor Leonhardt. I actually included it on our previous “This Hope” playlist.
AND — we have a new “Women of Hope” playlist, full of songs by women that will pull us into worship of our One True God and encourage us to live as women of hope.
- I’ve come to believe that we all need a “summer jam” (song) every year. So, it is with great excitement that I offer Lauren Daigle’s song “These Are The Days” as our Summer Jam for 2023. It’s our opening song!The words of the song’s “bridge” is a great transition from our “This Hope” series, which considered how hope and suffering go together. Its words promise, “If it’s not good, then it’s not over.” It’s okay to let yourself move to the music — I think the truths of the lyrics sink-in better when we let ourselves to be moved by the tune.
- The opening lines of Steffany Gretzinger’s song, “Out of Hiding,” hauntingly capture Eve’s response to shame — and ours. In Christ, we don’t have to hide. His victory is ours! Other “Eve” songs on our playlist are the hymns “In the Garden” by Kelly Minter and “New Every Morning” by Audrey Assad.
Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:
- This summer we’re picking up the rhythm of meditation — yes, again! But. Instead of filling our minds with a new passage every week, we will park ourselves on Hebrews 11:1 for the duration of the season, the series. This verse’s words are familiar ones — hear it in the NIV:
  
  Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
  
  Some weeks I’ll post a different version/translation in order to keep our spiritual ears attentive to its multiple facets. This week, let’s abide in the NIV, allowing its words to make a connection in our brains about faith and hope.
Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light of His hope into the world!

Featured photo: Detail from “Adam and Eve” (1528), a 172 × 124 cm oil on panel by Lucas Cranach the Elder, located in the Uffizi Galleries, Florence. Bits and Pieces photo by Photo by Zrng N Gharib on Unsplash.

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 more than a bit curious, its prophetic language a bit overwhelming, and the specifics of the end of days debatable.

Think about all the ways its words have been interpreted – like the way we count all the days and years in order to get to THE day when Jesus returns, and we are confident in our analysis despite the fact Jesus Himself told the disciples that He doesn’t know that date of His return (Matthew 24:36).

Think about all the ways its words have become divisive in the Church – like the way so many Christians (used to) define themselves as either “Pre-Tribulation,” “Post-Tribulation,” or “Mid-Tribulation,” turning their backs on anyone who thought differently. (And, if you have no idea what I’m talking about, then count yourself blessed! 😂)

Of course, I had my own opinions about it all because, heck, not only did I take part in an in-depth study of Revelation, I also read the complete Left Behind series – while doing the study (she says with great sarcasm and regret). The grace in it all is that I only knew what I’d been told. I didn’t know what I didn’t know…until I expanded my learning. (Even now, I don’t claim to know much of it ‘for sure’ – except Jesus wins!)

And, Revelation is actually packed with language and imagery that reflect language and imagery found throughout Scripture (think: Exodus, Daniel, Ezekiel). Despite its confusing aspects, this final book carries out and concludes the story within the pages of our Bible with awe-inspiring continuity. It gives us a picture of what it looks like when Jesus returns to earth a second time. Yes, the events of end times look like a holy cleansing – but it’s not without grace.

The Bible as a whole details how our humanity, our sin, is a barrier to God’s fullness (Isaiah 59:2), so cleansing rituals and sacrifices were instituted in the days of Moses (Hebrews 9:1-10).

It’s why the Israelites had to build a holy structure that was cleansed and consecrated in order for God’s essence to dwell among them (Exodus 40). It’s why they had to sacrifice animals to atone for their sins (Exodus 30:10). It’s why Jesus had to die (Galatians 1:4). Likewise, the earth has to be sanctified before God can bring the New Heaven to earth so that all His followers can finally dwell WITH HIM. Face-to-face. Forever (Revelation 21:1-3).

Friends, no one has to tell us that life on this broken, sin-soaked planet is hard. We live it everyday. But, as believers, we have an image of a promised Day when there will be no more pain, no more tears, no more death (Revelation 21:4). What many of us may not know just yet, however, is that day is not happening in heaven, which is currently the place of holy habitation, the place where our spirits go after life on earth is over (2 Corinthians 5:1-5; Luke 16:22-26).

That perfect, Eden-like era comes after Jesus’ return, after Judgement Day, after this place becomes the New Earth. These are the days where our spirits reunite with our resurrected bodies (1 Corinthians 15:42,44,46,52-53) – except these bodies will not be plagued with deficiencies and disabilities as they are now. No, these resurrected bodies will be as human as Jesus’ was (1 Corinthians 15:47-49), as perfect as Adam and Eve’s were at Creation. These are bodies that will live forever in glory with Jesus.

We can live for heaven today; we can also live with the hope for the perfect eternal life to come.

Our Groaning Bodies

This is the groaning
As You count every tear we have sown
And we trust what those tears will become
This is the stretching
Making room for our hope to arrive
Knowing You come to make us alive*
Lyrics to “We Do Not Labor in Vain”

Living with the hope that we will one day be in God’s presence, in our glorified bodies, aids us in enduring much suffering now. This hope requires our willingness to trust this promised future and to wait faithfully for it. It also obligates us to do more than despair for the rest of our days. Instead, we can look to all that causes our groans as a means for “making room for our hope to arrive” – BECAUSE we know He has “come to make us alive!”*

The promise of our future with Him – in heaven and in the New Heaven – can serve as fuel for our faith:

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.”
Romans 8:22-24

As we’ve seen in this study, Paul knew suffering. At one point he confessed things got so bad in Asia that he and his group had despaired of life (2 Corinthians 1:8). But, he explained, the sentence of death had happened so they would not rely on themselves – only God (v.9). With a quick turn of phrase, Paul included the core of his faith: he could trust God because God raises the dead (v.9). He knew that the One who has the kind of power that brings the dead to life is the One they could set their hope on to deliver them again and again – and so can we.

We groan in our bodies but not without hope! God will deliver us. One way or another His deliverance comes. Even as we face death, we can hope for the Day that our bodies will be raised, and they will never groan again.

Our Eternal Hope

In the meantime, we might be heard to complain while we endure this life of ours on earth – not so unlike the Israelites, who grumbled constantly despite having witnessed all the plagues, the miracle of the parted sea, and the end of their oppression. The very same people I’m often guilty of judging because somehow I think they should have more faith after all they’ve witnessed and been given.

Then I remember. I, too, have witnessed much and have been given even more.

I’ve seen:
God’s faithfulness in every season of stress.
God’s goodness when I thought there was no hope.
God’s provision at times of desperation.

I’ve been given:
His love in moments when I was quite unlovable.
His grace every time I’ve sinned and confessed.
His Holy Spirit – to dwell IN ME, to be my helper.

With all this remembering, I find myself confessing my sin of judging others…again. And as His love washes over me and His grace fills me, my hope in Him grows.

Such equipping and filling and growing hope continues to serve as reminders that I don’t – we don’t – need to live each day with what Sarah Wanck calls ‘temporal hope.’¹ Such temporal hope tempts us to think, “when I get through this thing, then the trial will be over.”¹ Such a hope focuses on the here and now and is hindered by our limited strength.

Which is why it is so significant that God offers us an eternal hope that will never fail! His promise of a restoration – that will last forever in His kingdom, that will forever reign over everything – is one that sustains.¹

Jesus’ return is reliable, thus becoming the hope we can trust because we know it is a certainty. Therefore, we can “hold onto the coming reality of Christ’s return, that one day, your every need will be met in him. His glory will be your source and strength.”² Just as prophets as Isaiah poured into the people of exile promises that God had not forgotten them, we can put our hope in the same truths. God sees each of us. He hasn’t left us. God’s promise isn’t only for eternity – it’s also meant to be our source of deep hope today.

This eternal hope is ours, and it will carry us in our right now, our tomorrow, and our forever — this we know, for real and for certain. This hope is yours, my friend. Take it – God wants to be your “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.”³ For all your tomorrows.

Heavenly Father, we long to believe the truth that You are here and now – and in our forever future. So, today, we make the words of a hymn our prayer:

Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth His Name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

That Word above all earthly powers,
No thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through Him who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still,
His Kingdom is forever.*

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

1 – Sarah Wanck, Wake Up Call, 12/12/22
2 – Sarah Wanck, Wake Up Call, 12/11/22
3 – Quoted from the hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” (which is on our playlist!)
*I added two new songs to our “This Hope” playlist,. One is from the collaborative album, Faithful, which we’ll hear from much more in our next series. But this song, “We Do Not Labor In Vain,” emphasizes today’s theme of our hope in eternity — Jesus comes back in all His glory to resurrect all the believers into their glorified bodies and finally bring New Heaven and New Earth together for His forever reign – with us! The second is the Martin Luther hymn, “Our God a Mighty Fortress.” I confess I didn’t know the lyrics well enough to be aware of the connections to all that we covered in this post – but I’m so grateful to know that now!
Friends, this ends our “This Hope” series. I do pray that our exploration of hope through the lens of suffering has been more hope-filled than we might have anticipated. I mean, suffering is not a favorite topic. 😉 But, equipped with all the promises of God, maybe we can truly persevere through our trials with greater faith and a deeper hope in our Savior and for our future!
Next week we begin our summer series: “Women of Hope.” I’m excited to step out into a series that will explore several women in Scripture who lived with the kind of hope we seek. I invite you to ask friends to join us on this special journey. XOXO

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

This spring we’re leaning into the rhythm of meditation. Unlike eastern meditation that seeks to empty the mind and self of everything, Christian meditation desires to fill our minds and beings with Christ. SO — each day, to the best of our abilities, let’s meditate on God’s Word, or as my friend JD Walt says, “ruminate on the Word just as a cow ruminates on his cud.” In other words, don’t rush. Read. Pause. Listen. Reread. Pause. Receive. Give space for the Spirit to reveal and enlighten.
- This week, let’s meditate (or ruminate) on Romans 8:22-24. As we meditate on Paul’s words, let’s settle into our future reality with Jesus in resurrected bodies that are groan-free.
Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light of His hope into the world!

Featured Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.

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 the events of 2020 because those months changed everything.

Not all life markers are collective. In fact, some of the most significant ones are singular. Like the season I poured over Jennie Allen’s book, Anything.¹ Every Friday for months, I went to the same coffee shop with her book and a journal in hand. I took a slow walk through words that shifted my way of thinking and challenged me to release all the things that held me back from giving my all to God. Those months in that book shaped me forever.

I distinctly remember Jennie describing the way she “lives life for heaven now” – and how I drew a big question mark in my journal because I didn’t quite grasp what she meant. I wanted to know, what does it look like to live for heaven now? As I’ve sought answers to that question, I’ve realized Jennie merely connected dots that God has been putting before me all along.

The first dot derives from what Paul told the Colossians, “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:1-2). When we put our focus on heaven, our thinking changes – our priorities and motives shift.

However, when we remove heaven from our thinking – when our focus is on this life alone – all our priorities center on this world and this life,² leaving us desperate and despairing. When we believe that “this life is all there is, [that] there is nothing else beyond the grave, we will live one way. But if there is another life coming, a bigger, bolder, more beautiful life than [we] can imagine, then [we] will live quite a different way.”²

J.B. Lightfoot puts it this way, “You must not only seek heaven; you must also think heaven.”

In other words, if we train our brains to “think heaven” – with all its good, all its promises, and all its glory – then we can find the kind of hope that sustains us through all our struggles. Such a focus gives us faith that “all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well”³

As we surrender ourselves more and more to the way of living for heaven now, we’ll desire to give ourselves more fully to the work of the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58). And we’ll “serve God with a whole heart wherever He” places us because we know that what we do “counts for all eternity.”¹

The Apostle Paul lived his life this way. And, he encourages us to live for heaven now, reminding us that “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20).

Friends, Paul knew suffering. He was flogged, stoned, shipwrecked, snake-bitten, imprisoned, and left for dead multiple times. He learned to live for heaven for all his days on earth because it not only motivated him with the love of Christ but ignited a fire within him to do all he could for Christ while he was here.

So. Living for heaven? It becomes the fuel for living by faith no matter how we feel or what we face. It becomes our focal point so that no matter our circumstances, we can overcome and have hope for what is to come (Romans 8:37).

Longing for Heaven

Sometimes our suffering actually causes us to long for heaven.

In her book, Restless, Jennie Allen uses the idea of ‘threads’ to help readers see how all the threads of life weave together to create unique masterpieces – threads like gifts, places, people, passions, and…suffering.⁴ When we put all our threads together, we begin to see how we’ve been made and what God is calling us to do.

But before we can launch ourselves into the world to do a good work, it is wise to examine our threads – especially those of suffering. Jennie explains that if we still have a gaping wound, we might be too raw, too fragile to share without causing more suffering. But if we’ll allow the One who suffers with us to heal us, then we can comfort others the way we’ve been comforted (2 Corinthians 1:4).

In our first year of marriage we suffered both a miscarriage and a tubal pregnancy. At the time, we told very few people; we were too broken, too wounded to talk about it. At the height of my pain, I questioned God. But as I healed, I understood that the ache left by such loss was revealing a truth to me – this was not how He intended life to be. So, rather than bitterness taking root, a longing for heaven budded.

And the more I desired heaven, the more my heart burned for Jesus. Jennie says, “The more we want heaven, the more dangerous we get on Earth”⁵– because we become bolder and braver. As I healed, and in a way that only God can weave together, God put a young woman in my path who needed my bold testimony to speak Christ’s hope into her pain.

With each season of suffering, we might get pinned down for a bit, but with our focus on heaven, healing happens – and a resolve settles into our souls that says, no more! When we don’t allow suffering to have the final word, all our threads weave us into strong forces of hope for the world. And for the enemy of our souls, this is dangerous indeed.

Bulletproof

Something else happens when we allow hope for heaven to do its healing and holy work within us – we embody the truth of heaven’s reality. And, “the more heaven gets real to us, the less this life has to work out just right.”⁵ Our looking to heaven grows within us a deep knowing that no matter how dark the valley is right now, we are okay. The hope of heaven emboldens us to live without fear because we believe nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:38-39) – and that our present sufferings will not compare with the glory to come (Romans 8:18).

It’s why Paul could remain fierce in his faith despite all the persecution.
It’s why Peter could keep preaching the gospel despite threats of death.
It’s why Stephen could so calmly retell the story of God, looking into heaven, even as he was dying (Acts 7:55-56).

They understood that they were okay because of heaven’s promise to make all things right and good. They trusted what Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul.” (Matthew 10:28 NLT). They lived by the truth that if we die with Him, we will also live with Him (2 Timothy 2:11).

A friend of mine, whose world came crashing down during one of our world’s epical moments, equates this way of living as going into the world bulletproof. Her hope in heaven and in the promises of God carried her through the absolute darkest valley she could imagine – and she emerged stronger and at peace that life could throw whatever it wanted at her. She knew she’d be okay.

This is living free of the fear of the unknown, free of the fear of being so overcome that we’ll never recover. This is the freedom that results from living with the kind of hope we’ve been searching for. And we can find it by looking to heaven and living for it.

Friends, life is hard. The pain is real. But we do not have to struggle by ourselves or without hope. In fact, as we keep looking to heaven, we’ll discover life right now is but a small blip on the radar of all time. We’ll see that God is with us and cares enough to help. AND we’ll find that the heaven He has promised us when this life is done will also equip us to keep living now. We can live free and fierce today because our hope is rooted in the most epic marker of all time – life in heaven with the One who loves us most.

Heavenly Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is heaven. We have prayed these words for most of our days, yet how often have we paused to think about heaven? Your throne room. The place where angels gather and worship You. Where Jesus has ascended and sits at your right hand – where WE are also seated at your right hand. Father, we ask that You would grant us a vision of heaven that would help us keep our thoughts on those things above and our minds anchored on what’s to come. Lord Jesus, we long for heaven, and our hope is for a life with You after this one is over. Thank You for leaving your throne in heaven to walk among us on earth, for demonstrating what it looks like to live for heaven now. Thank You for dying and resurrecting so that we can live that same reality. Holy Spirit, how we need You! Lead us in this way of living for heaven and putting our focus on things above. Build our faith so that our fears dissolve in the hope of what God is doing now, even as we look to heaven for promise and power. Teach us how to receive the healing You offer, and remind us that our suffering makes us stronger SO THAT we can go into the world and offer the comfort we’ve been given. In Jesus’ name, amen.
(Inspired by Matthew 6:9-10; Revelation 4:2, 7:11; Hebrews 1:3; Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 3:1-2; 1 Peter 3:14; Romans 8:11; Acts 7:55; Romans 5:3-4; 2 Corinthians 1:4)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

1 – Jennie Allen’s book Anything^
2 – Ray Fowler’s article “Living for Heaven Now”
3 – St Julian of Norwich’s famous lines that are said to have been spoken by Jesus to her in a vision. In the vision, she asked her burning question about why sin would be allowed in the world – and this was Jesus’ response, “‘It was necessary that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”
4 – Jennie Allen’s book Restless.^ I did her Bible study by the same title, but I’ll tell you which resource pulls together the BEST of Anything and Restless — a beautiful 40-day devotional book that functions a bit like a workbook — Made for This.^ Seriously, it takes some discipline, but wow! Those threads become more obvious — God’s plan, too!
5 – Jennie Allen’s podcast episode “Threads of Suffering” — a great discussion on this specific thread.
Lydia Laird’s song on our “This Hope” playlist, called “I’ll Be Okay,” gives us words of faith that we’ll be okay — no matter what — because Jesus is with us. AND, the final song on our playlist is a song by Brooke Ligertwood called “Ancient Gates.” It’s one I can listen to on repeat! Its lyrics speak into both this week’s discussion of heaven and next week’s New Heaven and New Earth. So beautiful. So full of promises that shift our focus and help us live for heaven now! “Here and now HE’S JUST AS HOLY!”

There’s a throne beneath the Name of Names
There is seated on it One who reigns
And His Kingdom now is here and getting closer
So praise Him like we’re there in glory
Here and now He’s just as holy

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

This spring we’re leaning into the rhythm of meditation. Unlike eastern meditation that seeks to empty the mind and self of everything, Christian meditation desires to fill our minds and beings with Christ. SO — each day, to the best of our abilities, let’s meditate on God’s Word, or as my friend JD Walt says, “ruminate on the Word just as a cow ruminates on his cud.” In other words, don’t rush. Read. Pause. Listen. Reread. Pause. Receive. Give space for the Spirit to reveal and enlighten.
- This week, let’s meditate (or ruminate) on Colossians 3:1-2. As we meditate on Paul’s words, let’s pray for a growing awareness of heaven’s reality — for our future and for right now. I’d love to hear how your time in these verses help shape your ability to live for heaven now.
Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light of His hope into the world!

Featured Photo by Kaushik Panchal on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
^an affiliate link with which I may earn a bit

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 skipper will drop an anchor from the bow (front), securing it to the solid ground below.¹ Pointing toward the wind, the boat won’t capsize. The anchor keeps the boat from getting shoved into the land or sucked out to sea.

Years ago, when we were boaters, our seagreen ski boat could usually outrun storms, so I’m not sure how we would’ve fared if we’d had to ride one out. But we did learn the value of a good anchor, and that lesson came on a sunny day when the lake looked like a sea of glass.

We pulled within several yards of land to jump-in for a refreshing swim. I don’t recall if we made the decision not to anchor or just forgot because of the lake’s deceptive calm. Anchorless, however, we put ourselves in danger. Distracted by our own splashes, we failed to notice the boat creeping inland, trapping us between it and the shore until it loomed over us and bumped into us. Thankfully, a nimble, quick-minded someone climbed aboard and got that boat back out to safer depths. Then. Then, we anchored.

I think about how our boating incident mirrors our lives – how when we feel like we’re floating along just fine in life, we can get caught unaware, trapped and even sucked under by a storm that has blown up out of nowhere.

The lesson? Hold onto Christ every single day of this life on earth. Stormy or calm seas, hang onto the person and promises of Jesus.

Our Anchor

The writer of Hebrews wants us to understand just how much we can count on God’s promises to hold firm, to always bring us through every tempest. The author points us toward Abraham’s reality – no matter what problems arose, no matter how long it took, Abraham clung to the covenant God made with him. He anchored himself to the promise that he would be the father of a great nation despite being childless (Hebrews 6:11-15). He held firm even when waves of doubt tried to drown him and winds of distrust tried to break his grip.

Paul spoke of Abraham in the same way, saying “he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:20-21). Abraham’s faith in God’s promises held him steady through every season, storm, and surprise.

These New Testament writers offer to us the imperfect Abraham as the one to imitate. He may not have made the healthiest choices all the time, but when it counted most, Abraham trusted God. He clung to faith even when he couldn’t see how the outcome God promised could be realized.

JD Walt helps his modern readers contrast Abraham’s brand of belief with our world’s anecdote:

“Positive thinking ties our faith to some preconceived and hoped for outcome. Faith, on the other hand, does not seek a particular outcome, but rather anchors all hope in God alone and the surety of His promises.”
JD Walt, The Daily Text, Nov 10, 2018

Positive thinking is putting our hope in ourselves, others, or circumstances. It’s living life anchorless yet counting on things beyond our control to hold us steady.

I’ve been learning this specific lesson in recent months. My form of “positive thinking” looks like planning. The minute life throws a curveball, my automatic response is to kick into planner-mode. My thoughts spiral with every possible scenario so I can plan for each outcome. Each imagining raises my stress. Each plan seeks to lower the stress, giving me the false illusion of control. In other words, I trick myself into thinking “I’ve got this.” And all the while, the boat is pushing me toward the shore where rocks hungrily await my approach.

This way of reacting to life is so habitual that the other night I woke up from an awful dream with tears in my eyes. The dream felt so real, that before I could fully awaken, my mind began planning where I would go in the face of such a loss. Later that morning, I took all the feelings, all the plans to God and eventually laughed out loud as I saw how ingrained this tendency is in me. And God nodded a silent, “I told you so.” Now we’re working together on changing this response in me. He’s teaching me how to put my hope in Him and His promises instead of my plans.

Positive thinking has very little actual power to change situations or to give us what we hope for. But, guess who does? Our Promise-Keeper. Our Anchor.

A Thing With Feathers

We’ve been learning that this hope is not a wish for something we don’t really think will happen. It’s not thinking the best of a situation so that it’ll magically work out the way we want. It’s not even tossing our fears thoughtlessly in the wind, hoping God will fix everything. For all our searching, it may still be hard to put into words just what this hope is.

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.²
Emily Dickinson

In her own poetic way, Emily uses metaphor to compare this hope to a bird:

This hope gets in our soul – it sings truth and keeps us warm.
This hope perseveres – it never stops, never lets go…even in the storm.
This hope remains with us – without ever asking anything of us except to trust.

Why? Because this hope is a person. It’s His good will for us. It’s our trusting His promises. It’s us releasing our plans so that this hope becomes our anchor. Thus moored, we become immovable in our faith and unsinkable in our determination to remain in Christ.

Friends, we don’t need to float through our days here on earth, allowing the winds and currents to take us where they please. We don’t need to create our own anchors in attempts to wait out the storms of life. And we don’t want to get caught off guard by a sneaky storm – because we have the strongest anchor ever. When we attach ourselves to our Solid Rock, we’re aligning our hearts and minds with His. We are trusting that He will not only get us through the storm but that He’ll be the One to lead us where we need to go. We are believing that God’s promises will never fail to hold because He has the power to outlast and overcome every storm.

So, whether we find ourselves battered by gale-force winds, watchful of darkening clouds building on the horizon, or content in our current calm season, we can trust that this hope is an anchor for our souls every single day of our lives (Hebrews 6:19).

Father God, hope against hope, Abraham believed You. He trusted You’d keep your word. And we want to do the same, running to You for refuge with confidence because we hold to the hope that lies before us. In faith, we trust that You are the only One in all the universe with the power to bring all your promises into reality. That You are the only One who can help us navigate life without drifting off course. Lord Jesus, You demonstrated your power over storms when You spoke a word, and the wind and rain stopped. We pray our faith will believe that same power can speak into our storms. Help us build a trust in You – that whether You stop the storm or bring us through it, your power and goodness are the same. We’re so grateful for your promises to be with us when we pass through the waters and to keep the rivers from sweeping over us. May these assurances be an anchor for our souls. Holy Spirit, we confess how easily we launch out in our own strength, with our own plans, only to be swamped by the raging seas of life. So, we ask You to be our constant reminder to anchor ourselves to Christ. We ask that You would speak over us the truth of all God’s promises and the power of putting our hope in them. In Jesus’ name, amen.
(inspired by Romans 4:18; Hebrews 6:18, 19; Matthew 8:24-27; Isaiah 43:2; John 16:13)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

1 – To drop an anchor in this situation, the boat would have to be in a harbor or near the shore. There are, however, “sea anchors” that are used while out on the open seas. These parachute-looking anchors are thrown out behind the boat so that the wind catches the pocket, creating drag, acting as a brake. The effect is similar.
2 – Emily Dickinson’s poem is in the public domain and can be found here.
Our “This Hope” playlist has a song by Hillsong called “Anchor.” Its lyrics capture SO MUCH of what God is trying to open our hearts and minds to in this series about suffering and this hope — about how He and His promises are the anchor for our souls.

There is hope in the promise of the cross
You gave everything to save the world You love
And this hope is an anchor for my soul
Our God will stand unshakeable

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

This spring we’re leaning into the rhythm of meditation. Unlike eastern meditation that seeks to empty the mind and self of everything, Christian meditation desires to fill our minds and beings with Christ. SO — each day, to the best of our abilities, let’s meditate on God’s Word, or as my friend JD Walt says, “ruminate on the Word just as a cow ruminates on his cud.” In other words, don’t rush. Read. Pause. Listen. Reread. Pause. Receive. Give space for the Spirit to reveal and enlighten.
- This week, we can meditate (or ruminate) on Hebrews 6:13-20. I personally love the NLT version, but you land on what feels best to you. I’d love to hear how your time in these verses establishes a faith in you to hold onto this hope that is an anchor to your soul.
Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light of His hope into the world!

Featured Photo by Frans Ruiter on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.

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 – but we actually have something better! For those moments and seasons when we need to hang in there, we have God’s promises.

Light and Life

In the beginning God created…everything! He brought forth light from darkness by speaking a word. He put the sun, moon, and stars in the heavens and separated the water from the land on earth. He fashioned animals, like cute kittens, and trees, like the one to which the kitten clings. And He made us! In all, God creates light and lots of life!

The poetry of John 1 shows how the rhythms and ideas of Creation are also the story of Christ:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”
John 1:1-4

Christ is life, but it’s more than our physical, bodily function – it’s also “the hope for living each day. It’s waking up with joyful possibility. It’s holding on, knowing that better days are coming.”¹ We are learning that God is our source of hope, and in Christ we see how the life we are given is meant to be more than drudgery and despair, more than mere survival. In Christ we’re meant to flourish. Even as we walk through the low places, there’s more to life than fading into the darkness.

But, it’s not all on us. Let’s keep pulling that refrain from Isaiah back into the foreground, “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength” (40:31). The image Scripture continually gives us is that of yoking ourselves to the One who can help carry the load (Matthew 11:28-30) – it’s not struggling through life on our own.

Perhaps the most misquoted verse in all of Scripture is 1 Corinthians 10:13. We hear too often that “God won’t give us more than we can carry,” yet we feel the opposite of that on our worst days. Which only makes us wonder about God, right? But the truth in 1 Corinthians 10:13 is not about the heaviness of life – it’s about how God will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear.

(Crazy side note: check out how that verse ends: “But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” Even in temptation, God helps us endure so we won’t give up!!!!).

So. Nowhere in Scripture does it say God won’t give us more than we can handle. Life is hard! And as we’ve seen in the last few weeks, Scripture agrees: Jesus warns us life will have troubles (John 16:33). Peter tells us life will have suffering (1 Peter). Paul assumes there will be pain because we are followers of the One who suffered and died (Philippians 1:29). Friends, we need to step out of the disappointment we have for God when it appears He keeps giving us way more than we can handle and, instead, pick up the truth. He is with us. He will help us.

With our Source of Hope, we can grab hold of the promises of light and life that say Jesus extends life to the weary and offers Himself, the Light of the World, to be our ray of hope in the darkest places.

Promise Keeper

We can trace all sorts of promises God has made throughout Scripture – like He will strengthen and help us (Isaiah 41:10); or His grace is sufficient for us (2 Corinthians 12:9); or when we confess our sin, He is faithful to forgive us (1 John 1:9). So. Many. Promises. But, here’s the kicker, God has never, nor will He ever, break a promise. Joshua says, “Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled” (21:45).

And, beyond the promises made to Israel, God also kept every promise about extending saving grace to all the world through a Savior (Psalm 67; Isaiah 9). There are well over 300 prophecies about the coming Messiah throughout the Old Testament, and Jesus fulfills every single one of them.

Hear this: Jesus is God’s ultimate kept-promise.

It is through the sending of His one-of-a-kind Son that God proves His love for us and His trustworthiness: “This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him” (1 John 4:9 CEB). That revelation of God’s love comes by way of light,² and it keeps the promise made to Abraham when the covenant was cut all those years ago (Genesis 17:3-5).

If we need any proof that God is ”Promise Keeper,” we need to look no further than Jesus.

Friend, in our sorrows and our sufferings, “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise” (Hebrews 10:23 NLT). Just as He kept His promise to usher in a way to save all nations, all people, He will keep His promises to you.

Preserving Life

And, one of the biggest promises is life!
Remember your word to your servant,
for you have given me hope.
My comfort in my suffering is this:
Your promise preserves my life.
Psalm 119:49-50 NIV, emphasis mine

Whoever is the author of this Psalm, they seem to grasp the correlations we’ve been making. As they connect the dots from “word” to “hope” to “suffering” to “promise” to “life,” they demonstrate how God’s Word gives hope – how when we suffer then recall the promises found in the Word, we are revived.³ All our weariness of body, heart, mind, and spirit are brought to life.

As we read (in the previous section) in 1 John 4:9, “that we can live through” Christ, John’s talk of living can mean eternal life, but the Greek here actually refers to life right now. This life is a gift from God, and we’re meant to live it emphatically and with joy because it is active, blessed, and endless!⁴

God’s Word gives life…and, we’ve made the full circle. John 1, Jesus the Word made flesh (v.14). In Him we have everything we need. In Him we have what Sarah Wanck calls the function of life – breath in our bodies. But she reminds us that we also have “the fullness of formation in Him that gives our life meaning.”¹ Not only is Jesus everywhere, but He’s our everything:

“And the life that is found in Him is our hope for today and the light of the world. Our hope, our everything is found in the One who has always been.”
Sarah Wanck

Friends, I know we each struggle – whether it’s for breath or bread or better days – but God promises to be with us. He promises to go through every dark valley with us (Psalm 23:4). And His presence changes everything – it gives us this hope because of His Word; it revives us back to life because of His light; it empowers us to keep hanging in there because of His promises.

God will keep His promises. Somehow, some way God will make a way.

We’ll give commentator Matthew Henry the final word today, “Those that make God’s promises their portion, may with humble boldness make them their plea.”⁵

Father God, You are Promise Keeper, Way Maker. In You there is no falseness, no failure to keep your word. Forgive us when we fall to the temptation of blaming You for all our struggles. Forgive us when we doubt your goodness and your perfect promises. We desire to live life to its fullest because You have given us this life and You have promised to go with us throughout it. Thank You for giving us your Word as our hope! Lord Jesus, You are the Light of the World, a light for our dark places and a light to be shared. You were there at Creation and spoke us into being. Then You gave your life so that we can live with You in eternity AND in the here and now full of hope and joy. You see us, so You know the weight of our burdens, the depths of our sorrows, and the way darkness tempts us to doubt and give up. You source our hope so that in this hard life we can live and move and have our being. Thank You for your life and light! Holy Spirit, You are the breath of life, the spirit that fills our lungs. And You dwell in us as One who reminds us of all Jesus has spoken – all the promises He has made – so that we will claim them as our own. Thank You for all the ways You’ve helped us hang on. Oh, please, help us to keep hanging on! Today we make God’s promises our portion and in humble boldness we make them our plea. In Jesus’ name, amen.
(inspired by Hebrews 10:23; Numbers 23:19; 1 John 1:9, 4:9; Deuteronomy 31:8; Psalm 119:49-50; John 8:12; Matthew 5:14-16; John 1:1-4; John 3:16; Matthew 11:28-30; Acts 17:24-28; Job 27:3; 1 Corinthians 3:16; John 14:26; Matthew Henry)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

1 – Wake Up Call, Sarah Wanck’s Advent opener on 12/1/22, “New Beginnings“
2 – Greek for “revealed to us,” phaneroo, is derived from phaino, which means “to give light and become visible;” it is derived from phos, which means “light” – literally, “was brought to light” and so conveys the sense that God’s love (by itself not clearly visible) was made clearly visible. Got this from BibleHub.com.
- (I get a little geeky over all this – the dots just keep connecting.)
3 – The literal translation of “preserves my life” from the Greek word, ḥî·yā·ṯə·nî, is to revive back to life.
4 – Greek for “live through him” is zaó, meaning “to live, experience God’s gift of life. Specifically in this verse, “emphatically, and in the Messianic sense, to enjoy real life, i. e. to have true life and worthy of the name — active, blessed, endless in the kingdom of God …by the gift and power of Christ it is shared in by the faithful.” (also from BibleHub.com)
5 – Matthew Henry’s thoughts on Psalm 119:50 as found on BibleHub.com
On our “This Hope” playlist, we have a new song! “I Stand in Awe” by Chris Tomlin and Nicole Serrano – the perfect lyrics to flow from our lips as we consider all these truths about God:

When I consider what You have made
The mighty oceans, the fiery stars
The fields and forests give You praise
My Lord, my God
I stand in awe of You

When I consider what You have done
I see Your suffering, I see Your scars
Oh, the wonder, oh, the love
My Lord (my Lord)
My God (my God)
I stand in awe of You
I stand in awe!

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

As we put our rhythm of meditation into practice, let’s recall that eastern meditation seeks to empty the mind and self of everything, but Christian meditation desires to fill our minds and beings with Christ. SO — each day, to the best of our abilities, let’s meditate on God’s Word, or as my friend JD Walt says, “ruminate on the Word just as a cow ruminates on his cud.” In other words, don’t rush. Read. Pause. Listen. Reread. Pause. Receive.
- This week, we can meditate (or ruminate) on Psalm 119:49-50. Take your time, giving the Spirit space to speak, prompt, and lead. Read less for information and more for inspiration — to the point of looking for what you can discover about who God is (rather than what He can do for you).
Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light into the world!

Featured Photo by Bogdan Cotos on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
^ Affiliate link, with which I may earn a bit.

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 Beth Moore told years ago about a friend who lost a child. Beth took the same questions to God, asking how do we endure such loss? And God reminded her of the manna that fell each morning for forty years in the wilderness. God sent the Israelites all the manna they would need each day – and grace works the same way. In seasons when we are plodding through pain, God supplies extra grace – enough grace to endure. Enough grace to hope for a day when such anguish no longer exists.

Sometimes, knowing that our suffering matters¹ does not seem like enough to push us through, to give us what we need to keep hoping and enduring. And that’s when we have to accept the truth – we cannot produce the will to persevere. Paul David Tripp says our “hope of enduring is not to be found in our character or strength.” Rather, we have to look beyond ourselves to the One who always endures.² God never grows weak; He is always strong (Isaiah 40:28). He never gives up; He always perseveres (Psalm 62:5-6). In other words, the “God of Endurance” is our source of hope (Romans 5:5 CEB, 5:13 NLT)! And He has given us two valuable assets to help us hang-on in the midst of our misery – the Scriptures and the Spirit (Romans 15:4,13).

Scriptures of Encouragement

In his first letter, Peter talks a lot about suffering because the audience he wrote to suffered greatly under Nero’s persecution in Rome. He set out to encourage the distressed followers of Christ who had begun to think God had abandoned them.³ And isn’t that what suffering tempts us to do? Doubt. God’s. Presence.

Throughout his letter, Peter’s words are timeless, encouraging everyone to endure the brokenness of the world. But he also speaks truth over our tendency to think we’re alone in our struggles – to believe that no one could ever feel as we do:

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.”
1 Peter 4:12 NIV (the 1984 version)

The Good News Translation really pegs it, “as though something unusual were happening to you.”

It’s one thing to say that suffering is universal; it’s another thing altogether to remember that truth when we are in the middle of the mess. But what Peter wants all believers to grab hold of is that these hard times – the pain, the grief, the exhaustion – they’re not unique to any of us. They really are to be expected – especially by believers. And, that is meant to be encouraging.

Like the time we took one of our sons for counseling during his turbulent middle school years. I was just sure we had a unique situation that would be unsolvable, not overcomable – and those fears caused me great distress. As though she knew what I was thinking, the counselor pulled me aside after one session and said, “He’s a normal teenage boy. You will get through this.”

Her words poured such relief into my mom-heart. There was hope in knowing we weren’t experiencing anything new. It helped me endure those years with faith that God would continue to equip us with people like this counselor and encourage us with the truth that our struggles are not singular.

Another thing Peter’s letter accomplishes is reframing the trials of this young church.

First, he promised the trials would not last forever (1 Peter 1:6). Then, he wanted them to know these ordeals would not leave them empty and faithless; rather, they would actually show their faith as genuine (1 Peter 1:7a). In other words God would use the troubles to test and, ultimately, strengthen their faith. Finally, he gave them the promise that there would be rewards for such endurance:

“When your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”
1 Peter 1:7b

Like Peter’s letter, all of Scripture is filled with stories and promises, which are included within its pages for the purpose of encouraging God’s people! We can scour the Old Testament to find suffering in abundance. The Israelites’ suffering as slaves in Egypt and Moses’ struggle to get them to the Promised Land show us that with God we can make it (Exodus). The way Job endures his great pain and grief can encourage us to trust God in the same way (Job). Jeremiah is but one prophet called to persevere through great persecution, and he is one who suffered inwardly, as well, as he watched God’s people choose faithlessness over and over. Yet his faith only grew stronger (Jeremiah). The Israelites suffered even as they were allowed to return to Jerusalem after seventy years of exile, but they overcame the obstacles by believing in God’s Word (Ezra/Nehemiah).

And, of course, the New Testament’s four Gospels chronicle the struggles of Jesus and His disciples. From rejection to betrayal to grief, these faithful followers were not immune to suffering. Quite the contrary, Jesus actually tells them to expect trouble – not only because the world is full of it but because they follow Him (John 16:33). However, His very next words, “I have overcome the world,” impart the hope we all need to keep plugging away.

Jesus, our hope, will get us through. In His Word we find promises that help us persevere.

Spirit of Help and Hope

On the night of His arrest, Jesus breaks all kinds of news to His disciples as they share the Last Supper – He’ll be “going away” but “will be back soon” (14:28); “the prince of this world is coming” but “he has no hold over” Jesus (14:30). Underlying all of this is the news that when He is gone, the Father will send the Holy Spirit (14:16-17,25-26).

Jesus knows that His followers will need someone to continue to speak truth over them and to advocate for them (14:16-17,26). Four times in this one speech (14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7), Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Helper, the paraklétos – the one to come alongside to advocate and intercede, to comfort and console.

In other words, the Holy Spirit has been given to us – to each and every follower of Christ – as our Helper, the One to come alongside us and continue the work Jesus began.

Friends, when we make the decision to follow Jesus, we are brought into communion with Him – with the Holy Trinity. And it is in that very place of belonging where we find the strength to endure whatever life throws at us. We are never alone!

The giving of the Spirit was a calculated decision, part of the plan, and is the gift of having Jesus with us every single day. And therein lies our hope – which is why Paul would include a prayer about the power of the Holy Spirit in the conclusion of his passage on persevering through trials:

“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.”
Romans 5:13 NIV

The Spirit who is our helper is also our hope!

So, as you go about your day – your life – remember Jesus is always, always, always with you because the Spirit is in you.

With the Spirit, you always have a helper.
With the Scriptures, you always have encouragement.
With the pair, you always have what you need to endure the trials that lay like a heavy burden on your shoulders.

You don’t have to feel the added pressure of coming up with the strength and resolve to “just keep swimming.”⁴ Instead, you can bear your soul to the One who has come alongside you and trust in the fact that His grace will always be enough. Then, the God of Endurance will be your source of hope.

Friend, because of Jesus, this hope is our endurance. You are going to make it!

Heavenly Father, our God of Endurance, You never grow tired. Your resolve never waivers. Your strength never fails. And You offer ALL of this to us. You give us rest; You align our wills with yours; and You empower us to endure. So, on this day, we choose to put our hope in You, and we thank You that You renew our strength. Lord Jesus, we are so grateful for the words that You spoke over your disciples on that last night, leaving them as an offering for us today. We desire to be encouraged by your Word, so we ask that You would lead us to the just right passages at the just right moments. And we vow to take those words as truth, clinging to them as lifelines. Holy Spirit, our Helper, thank You for coming alongside us on this journey of persevering and enduring all the trials this life gives. Our faith grows as we put our trust in the fact that You are always with us ready to help us at any moment, at any time. We claim Paul’s prayer as our own, asking that, as our Source of Hope and by your power, You would fill us with peace and joy each time we trust You so that we will overflow with hope! In Jesus’ name, amen.
(inspired by Romans 15:5,13; Isaiah 40:28,31; Matthew 11:28; Luke 22:42; 2 Peter 1:3; Psalm 119:160; John 14:16,26; Romans 15:13)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

1 – a reference to last week’s blog post
2 – taken from the January 12th devotion in Paul David Tripp’s book, New Morning Mercies^ (many thanks to my friend, Susan, for sharing!)
3 – Women of Faith Study Bible, p.2021
4 – Dory quote from Finding Nemo (hahaha)
Did you see my Bonus Post? A few days ago, I wrote an extra, unplanned post about a type of prayer called a lament. If you’re not familiar with lament, read on — because this kind of prayer becomes a vehicle for speaking our truest thoughts and feelings to God with hope. We can get as honest as we want with the God we worship because He’s big enough to handle it and good enough to allow our honesty to shape us for the better.
For the curious — here’s an article that further unpacks how the Holy Spirit encourages us, including a great story that illustrates the “coming alongside” idea of paraklétos.
Taken from the Bible Study Tools website, here is list of verses to turn to in hard times:
- Psalm 9:9 – “The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.”
- Philippians 4:19 – “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”
- Psalm 32:7-8 – God is a hiding place. He provides the shelter no one else can.
- 1 Peter 5:7 – God asks us to give Him everything about which we are anxious, because He cares for us.
- Romans 8:18 – We can get through anything here in this life because we have glory ahead of us.
- 1 Peter 1:6-7 – Our faith is tested so we can grow in Christ and praise Him all the more as He is revealed.
- Joshua 1:9 – God is always with us, so we are to be strong and courageous.
- Philippians 4:19 – God will meet all our needs (remember, He is talking needs, not wants).
- Romans 8:28 – A very familiar verse to many about how God makes everything work for good for those He has called and who love Him.
- 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 – This passage was written by Paul, who, as we saw, went through some serious hard times. And through it all he kept his faith. In it he says, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
Our “This Hope” playlist holds so many great songs that are packed with all the truths in this series. When we are in hard seasons, we need encouragement to endure — and songs like these (because they’re saturated with Scripture and inspired by the Spirit) can go a long way to lifting our spirits, readjusting our eyes onto Jesus, and singing the Word over us when we can’t read it for ourselves.

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

This spring we’re leaning into the rhythm of meditation. Unlike eastern meditation that seeks to empty the mind and self of everything, Christian meditation desires to fill our minds and beings with Christ. SO — each day, to the best of our abilities, let’s meditate on God’s Word, or as my friend JD Walt says, “ruminate on the Word just as a cow ruminates on his cud.” In other words, don’t rush. Read. Pause. Listen. Reread. Pause. Receive. Give space for the Spirit to reveal and enlighten.
- This week, we can meditate (or ruminate) on Romans 15:13. One verse SO FULL of all the things we long for — joy, peace, trust, and hope!!! Truly, take your time. Come back to it again and again. Sometimes it can be fun to read a verse in multiple translations; however, this verse must be pretty straight forward — they’re all nearly the same. But, here are a few that incorporate a little variety:
  - Aramaic Bible in Plain English — But The God of hope shall fill you with all joy and peace by faith, that you shall superabound in his hope by the power of The Spirit of Holiness.
  - Weymouth New Testament — May God, the giver of hope, fill you with continual joy and peace because you trust in Him–so that you may have abundant hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
  - Good News Translation — May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light of His hope into the world!

Featured Photo by Jaco Pretorius on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
^ Affiliate link, with which I may earn a bit.

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 the pain swallowing us whole. We live in a culture that only wants to see our best – our best smiles, our best creations, our best lives, so for too long we’ve lived under the illusion that if we fake it, we’ll make it. But the truth is we ALL suffer. And, as science and psychology will tell us, if we name and own how we feel, the grip of pain will lessen.¹ Believe it or not, Scripture has been telling us this all along –

Job doesn’t try to hide behind his grief when all has been lost. Instead, he speaks honestly, “Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water. What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil” (Job 3:23-26 NIV).

David models for us throughout the Psalms how to speak what we feel: “Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?” (Psalm 6:2-4 NIV).

Discouraged prophets like Jeremiah and Habakkuk pepper God with their questions and appeals: “Why is my pain continuous, my wound incurable?” (Jeremiah 15:18); “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?” (Habakkuk 1:2 NIV}.

In the New Testament, afflicted people consistently cry out to Jesus for help – like Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, who shouts out, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” (Mark 10:47).

In His overwhelm, Jesus calls out to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane as His sweat turns to blood, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me” (Luke 22:41-44). Agonizing on the cross, Jesus wails the words of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).

On each occasion, these men do not hide their true feelings, hedge their questions, or act like all is well. Rather, they get honest – with themselves and with God. And, to a person they find help and strength in the One they cry out to. But, it always starts with naming emotions and owning the reality of their suffering.

Songs of Hope

There’s actually a name for prayers that sob, scream, and shout to God with gut-wrenching honesty – laments. Not all meltdowns are laments. And neither are all prayers. JD Walt helps us understand that for a prayer to qualify as a lament, it has to be “framed in the larger context of hope” because, by definition, a “lament is human sadness and longing lifted to God. Absent the presence of God and ultimate hope, we cannot lament; we can only despair.”²

I’d love for us to sit with that a minute: Without God and hope, we only despair. It makes me wonder how many of our prayers are really statements of despair, spoken as though we’ve given up on the situation – with no real hope for things to change. So how do we make the shift in our hearts and minds? How do we learn to lament?

First, it helps to know that laments are songs of hope that pour out from an open heart, searching for the Father’s help. This prayerful response becomes the hinge for hope which is why the lament is a needed part of every believer’s rhythms and routines. And why Timothy Tennent describes the followers of Jesus as “people of hope” who can “look to the future and know with confidence that God is in control and he will someday set all things right.”³

While we may not be familiar with the use of laments, God provides some great templates for us. Over one-third of the Psalms are laments!⁴ We’ve been given easy access to a library of laments to pour over, not only giving us permission to put this into practice but providing words for us to use.

As we begin to familiarize ourselves with this unique form of prayer, we will notice that most laments contain four elements, in which the author of the lament:⁵

Directs her complaint to God: “O Lord, how many are my foes!” (Psalm 3).
Describes her suffering, “My tears have been my food, day and night” (Psalm 42).
Depends on God to come to her aid: “Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself!” (Psalm 44).
Dwells on God’s faithfulness and goodness: “But I have trusted in your steadfast love” (Psalm 13).

Biblical laments demonstrate that the order of these elements does not matter, nor does equal representation. What I have always loved about these special Psalms is that no matter how dire the situation, the writer always comes back to faith, to hope.

Hope Is a Song

As with any other unfamiliar skill on the planet, the only way we’ll get better at tapping into our emotions and asking God for help with hope is to practice! Let’s use Psalm 13 to speak aloud our very own anguish. You can simply read the words and make them your prayer, or you can take what’s given and modify the words to fit your specific situation:

1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
    and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
    How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
    and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
    my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the Lord’s praise,
    for he has been good to me.
Psalm 13 NIV

Sometimes it helps to use various translations or even a paraphrase to get the heart of what is being said. Psalm 13 in The Message is a great one to try.

The Psalms are rich,⁶ and they have much to teach us about this practice of lament, so they can be our song book. But they can also be a springboard, launching us into our own laments.

Remember, a lament isn’t just grumbling – it’s describing our pain/suffering directly to God in hope so that we depend on Him and dwell on His faithfulness and goodness (our reason for hope). So, as you work your way through the laments found in the Psalms, make it a habit to see how each psalmist weaves these elements throughout their prayer so that you can do the same in yours.

Friends, suffering is inescapable, but we have a Savior who makes Himself available to us. He wants to hear us. He longs to heal us. He desires to be our hope. So, cry out to Him with the holy expectancy that He will!

“Hope is a song sung when everything else says you shouldn’t be singing. Hope is joy. Hope is a testimony that says ‘even if it doesn’t come true, I will live like it might.’ Hope is what helps us survive. Hope is little light.”
Pádraig Ó Tuama, In The Shelter page 178

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

1 – “Science Behind Why Naming Our Feelings Makes Us Happier” article
2 – JD Walt, Feb 25, Soundtrack
3 – May 28, Timothy Tennent, Asbury Seminary’s president,
4 – Here’s a list of the laments in Psalms – it’s a compilation from several lists and not perfect nor complete, but it is a great start. I’ve done my best to split up the individual laments from the communal/corporate laments:
The psalms of “individual complaint” are: Psalm 3–7, 10, 13, 17, 22, 25-28, 31, 32, 38, 39, 42, 43, 51, 54-57, 59, 61, 63, 64, 69–71, 77, 86, 88, 94, 102, 109, 120, 130, and 140-43.
The psalms of “communal complaint” are: 12, 44, 60, 74, 79, 80, 83, 85, and 89-90.
5 – “The Art of Lament” article by Gospel Coalition
6 – I think you’ll be amazed at how specific some of the Psalms are – some are about illness (Psalm 6), slander (Psalm 35), deception (Psalm 55–especially v.21), doubt (Psalm 71), stress (Psalm 102–especially vv.1-12), grief (Psalms 13, 77), discouragement (Psalm 143), when life beats us up (Psalms 88), when we feel abandoned (Psalm 38), when we’re tempted toward comparison (Psalm 73).
Our “This Hope” playlist has some good laments.
- Not on our playlist, but Cory Asbury’s song “Unraveling” is an example of a modern lament.

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

Remember this week we are meditating (or ruminating) on Romans 5:1-11 CSB. But, if one of the laments is capturing the words of your soul, please go with it!
Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light into the world!

Featured Photo by Mohd Zuber saifi on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
^ Affiliate link, with which I may earn a bit.

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 a study called In the Wild by Dan Wilt.¹ Slowly, day by day, line by line, Dan walked us through the three temptations of Christ during His forty days in the wilderness (Luke 4:5-8). Simultaneously, I re-watched The Chosen and completed a months-long study of Exodus. Immersed and saturated in such a way, this Lent I felt Jesus’ suffering like never before – maybe because of my new awareness that His painful struggles began long before the cross (like the betrayal of friends, rejection of His hometown, or animosity from His own people).

Dan points out that during the second temptation of Christ, Satan takes Jesus up to the highest point in Jerusalem and shows Him the kingdoms of the world, offering to give Him all their authority and splendor (Luke 4:6). But beyond power and influence, a more appealing offer underlying this temptation is to skip the suffering that is to come.¹

(Skip the suffering? Um, yes please.)

Yet in full knowledge of the cross and the suffering required of Him, Jesus quickly and adamantly declines, choosing to remain faithful to His Father in heaven (v.8) – and to the strategy they had laid out to redeem the world back to God.

Suffering was always part of God’s “Great Rescue Plan.”² It always included torture and death on a cross. That’s why Isaiah called Messiah the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53). In other words, Jesus knew. At some point in his human life, the Rescue Plan settled into His mind with clarity. Every word He spoke, every miracle He performed, and every challenge He posed led to the cross – intentionally.

I’ve sat in this truth for a few weeks now, and one of the outflows of such soaking is the humble acceptance that if Christ came to suffer, who am I to try to avoid it?

Even bigger is my realization that Jesus’ pain – of heart, mind, spirit, and body – had purpose.

Friend, I know you suffer. You might be tempted to deny it or compare it or despair in it, but there are truths, like lifelines, that each of us can grab hold of. Even though hardship is part of life in this broken world, God will always remain with us in our suffering, and our pain will always have purpose.

Promise of Presence

Years ago, dark days of betrayal and the grief of lost love tempted me toward despair. The lies of the enemy tortured me with ideas like: “this will never get better;” “you’ll never be loved again;” or “this is what you get.” I remember lying on my bed, giving in to the darkness. And for the first time in my life I realized how people could be tempted to take their own lives. Jolted back into reality, I reached for my dusty Bible.

And as I opened it, a scrap of paper with “Isaiah 41:10” penned on it fluttered to the floor, so I turned to that page and read that God strengthens, helps, and holds me in His victorious right hand. That day I’d been desperate, but the ache turned me back to the God of my younger days. That piece of paper with the perfect passage became my beacon of hope.

Isaiah’s words held promise. They didn’t fix the situation or even mend my heart in the moment. But, they gave me hope that my crappy circumstances would one day get better, and that I could get through it all because God would go with me.

Since the days of Moses and Joshua, God has been promising to never leave us, to never forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6). Jesus reiterates the same pledge, “I am with you always, till the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

So, as we surrender to the anguish that comes with suffering, we can allow our faith in our Father’s presence to set aflame our hope. We are not alone! We are seen, and our Lord has compassion because, as the word means, He suffers with us.

Promise of Purpose

Jesus knows suffering. He chose it. And, the writer of Hebrews would say He endured it because of the joy that would come after it – the joy of defeating sin and death, the joy of redeeming us back to Himself (12:2). In other words, each time He was tempted to give in to the dread of dying the shameful, excruciating death of the cross or to call down those legions of angels to rescue Him (Matthew 26:53), He trusted the plan. He believed that the purpose would be worth it.

Jesus models for us what it looks like to allow hope for future good to sustain us through our suffering. Paul elaborates, saying that it’s God’s grace poured out on us that allows us to put full hope in a future we cannot see, which is why we can…

“…boast in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
Romans 5:2-5 CSB

Paul’s train of thoughtstarts and ends with hope:³

Paul builds this incredible case that God’s grace gives us hope so that when the trials of life happen, we can endure. Because of Jesus’ suffering and death, we can confidently boast, even rejoice, in our trust of God in the midst of great pain. And as we patiently persevere, our character grows and deepens and strengthens which, in turn, only fuels more hope for better days.⁴

This “chain” serves as support for Paul’s assertion that “this hope will not disappoint us” (5:5).³ Our hope is unshakable because God’s grace grants it and His love sources it.

Hope keeps us afloat. When despair threatens to drown us, we can fix our eyes on our Savior who not only knows our pain but has promised we have a future with Him that will be worth it (Romans 8:18) – as He’s proven by His own choice to endure great affliction.

But hope also gives us staying power because we can trust the purpose that will result from it – like the shaping of our character. And the sharing of the hope we’ve found in Christ with others. It’s why Paul tells us to remember that God “comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others” (2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT).

On a recent Instagram reel, Jennie Allen challenged listeners to consider Romans 8:28 in a similar way, suggesting “the good” that God is working out isn’t just for our personal good but also for the good of others.⁵ After all, we’ve been “called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28b, emphasis mine).

This Hope

During Advent, I listened to Annie F. Downs’ podcast as she led her listeners through each week’s focus. Knowing that “hope” was to be my Word of the Year, I listened intently that first week as she unpacked the Romans 5:3-5 passage. Reading in the CSB translation, she kept emphasizing “this hope,” explaining this hope doesn’t disappoint because it’s anchored in Christ.

And like Paul, Annie exhorts us to believe with faith that this hope won’t disappoint because our suffering matters!⁶ It shapes us. It strengthens us. It equips us to go into the world and share the love and healing Christ has given us.

So as we absorb all these truths, we can choose to allow them to do a holy work in us so that the moment suffering starts, we can pick up the tools we’ve been given:

First, we look to God and tell Him how we hurt, getting honest with all our thoughts and feelings.
Then, we look to the promise of Isaiah 41:10 and ask God to be our help.
And to help us persevere, we ask, “What does it look like not to quit here, Lord?”^{6 & 7}

These practical steps equip us to name what hurts so that we can move through the pain, leaning on God’s wisdom and power. We can do this because we believe our suffering has significance – to God because He cares, to us because of what it can work out, and to the people we’ll meet who struggle and need our witness, our story, our comfort.

And in all of it – at every stage, in every season, and through every storm – this hope will be what sustains us. This hope will build in us a faith that will carry us into better days and into a future of promise where pain will no longer exist. Let’s grab the lifelines handed to us by the One who knows what it is to agonize. Let’s trust His promises and believe that our suffering matters.

Father God, it’s incredible to imagine that You have been at work for all these millennia pulling off the Great Rescue Plan, redeeming the lost and the sinful back into your presence. It’s also humbling to realize the great pain You caused yourself and your Son by implementing such a rescue. Thank You for your grace that has been poured into us with power and for your love that has been given to us for purpose. Lord Jesus, knowing that You chose to suffer for us shows us what it is to endure and to trust. Knowing that You suffer with us encourages us to keep persevering with a hope that won’t disappoint. Knowing that You will work out all things for the good of those who love you, for those who are called to your purpose builds our faith. Knowing that this suffering matters increases our hope for better days. Holy Spirit, how grateful we are that You are with us always – that we never have to struggle in our own strength. We come to You now to speak aloud the suffering that threatens to strangle us. We confess our fear and our fury, our despair and our discouragement. We ask that You would help us endure all that weighs us down and causes such pain. We ask that You would help us to keep our eyes on Jesus so that we live in the hope that He will never leave us and that in Him our suffering will have purpose. In His name, amen.
(inspired by Epic of Eden; Galatians 3:13-14; Ephesians 1:7-8; John 3:16; Titus 2:11-14; Romans 5:3-5,8; 1 Peter 4:1-13 NLT; Romans 8:28; Hebrews 12:2; Isaiah 41:10)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

1 – Dan Wilt, Into the Wild, as read/heard on Seedbed’s Wake Up Call, March 31, 2023
2 – “Great Rescue Plan” is coined by Dr. Sandra Richter in Epic of Eden,^ see p.130
3 – The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary, p.1240
4 – Harper’s Bible Commentary, p.1144
5 – Jennie Allen’s Instagram reel
6 – Annie F. Downs’ “Hope” podcast
7 – more on this idea of “not giving up” next week!
In our new “This Hope” playlist, the song “Weep With Me” by Rend Collective can be a great prayer as we call out to God with our pain…and hope.

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

In our journey to become more Christ-like, to deepen our knowing of Him and strengthen our faith in Him, we incorporate rhythms in our lives — not to box us into legalistic have-to’s but to develop within ourselves a delight in being with Him. This spring, I’d love for us to lean into the rhythm of meditation. Unlike eastern meditation that seeks to empty the mind and self of everything, Christian meditation desires to fill our minds and beings with Christ. SO — each day, to the best of our abilities, let’s meditate on God’s Word. Each week I’ll suggest a chapter or passage of Scripture that we can settle into, or as my friend JD Walt says, “ruminate on the Word just as a cow ruminates on his cud.” In other words, don’t rush. Read. Pause. Listen. Reread. Pause. Receive. Give space for the Spirit to reveal and enlighten.
- This week, we can meditate (or ruminate) on Romans 5:1-11 CSB. Take your time, giving the Spirit space to speak, prompt, and lead. Read less for information and more for inspiration — to the point of looking for what you can discover about who God is (rather than what He can do for you). And if the Spirit leads you to pause on one verse, stay there! Freedom in the Spirit!!
Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light into the world!

Featured Photo by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
^ Affiliate link, with which I may earn a bit.

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. But the words preached reminded me that the very first Easter morning held no hallelujahs. The disciples still grieved, still struggled with what felt like dashed hope. And, the women headed to the tomb to finish the burial rituals they had barely begun on Friday.

When they saw the empty tomb, it didn’t fill them with awe as it had me – because they didn’t yet grasp its meaning. But the minute Mary heard Jesus say her name, she knew. HE LIVES!

All these 2000+ years later, we celebrate the empty tomb – not from a place of fear or confusion but faith because Christ’s resurrection is everything. Friday’s death was the ultimate sacrifice and atonement, but without Sunday’s resurrection, the cross would’ve been forgotten, Jesus’ story lost forever.

Without the resurrection, there’s no Church, no preaching, no faith (1 Corinthians 15:14). There’s no forgiveness of sins nor any life beyond death (v.17-18). There’s no hope, not in the now nor for eternity (v.19).

But, praise the Lord, we’ve been given a “new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). A living hope because Jesus lives! A living hope because Christ lives in us. And this hope, it’s powered by Christ’s resurrection.

New Life

Something about all the new life that bursts forth each spring has me anticipating this particular season more than any other every year. Winter is hard. It’s darker and colder. It’s brown and lifeless. So when I first spy the green sprouts on trees and the flowers in the fields, my heart soars. For me, spring is a living hope, the tangible evidence of what Jesus’ death and resurrection promise – new life.

The imagery of a thriving, fruitful tree in the summer shedding its leaves in the fall and looking dead throughout winter should bring to mind Jesus’ own life and death. And just when we’re tempted to believe the tree will no longer live, green buds pop out in the spring. New life!

The symbolism of our own baptism embodies the same meaning. As we go under the water, we die to our old selves, to our sin. And as we rise out of the water, washed clean, we are new creatures in Christ (Romans 6:4). New life!

This is resurrection life. It is life made new in Christ. It is life full of power and hope.

Jesus described Himself as the Resurrection and Life (John 11:25). At the time He used this moniker, His friend Lazarus lay dead in a tomb and Lazarus’ sisters were upset that Jesus delayed His arrival. They trusted in His healing power. They even believed in the resurrection to come on the final day (vv. 21-24). But they were about to be introduced to resurrection power in the here and now. The “I Am the Resurrection and Life” spoke a word, and life stepped out of the tomb (vv. 43-44).

Literally, Lazarus was given new life. And when we put our faith in Jesus, we also have new life – yes, for eternity but also for our days on earth – because the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is in us (Romans 8:11). In other words, that power, that Spirit, they give us all we need to live and hope each day. New life!

Surprised by Hope

NT Wright, one of the most brilliant Christian minds of our day, has written a book entitled Surprised by Hope. So, of course, I had to have it. And, I was certainly surprised!

I’m not sure what I expected, but I wasn’t thinking it would be a book about resurrection. Yet, that’s exactly what NT Wright focuses on. I’m beginning to understand why – because if we, as followers of Jesus, don’t have a full and correct understanding of resurrection, we fail to have the full hope of Christ:

If we don’t live a faith rooted in the Word, we’ll confuse “death defeated” for “death redescribed,” where we merge many of the world’s ideas of afterlife – like total annihilation or reincarnation or ghosts – with that of God’s New Heaven and New Earth (chapter 2 of SBH).

If we don’t live out the truth of the resurrection of the dead, our faith becomes an amalgamation of the Platos and Dantes, of Hollywood and postmodernism.

If we don’t make Jesus’ resurrection the center of all we are, we live by a distorted truth, believing all roads lead to heaven or thinking that heaven is the ultimate destination.¹

Rather, we need to lean deeply into Scripture, as well as Church tradition. Our creeds have it right. But do we truly believe that Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried? That He was resurrected and ascended to heaven in order to one day judge all who live and all who have died? That our bodies will be resurrected and live forever?²

Or do we worry that heaven will be boring? Or assume that we’ll become angels in heaven? Or think that God is a narcissist who just wants to be adored for all eternity? Or believe that there’s a second chance waiting in some version of a purgatory where we learn to get it right?

Neither Scripture nor tradition support any of these. Rather, truth looks like what Jesus said to the thief on the cross, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43) – in other words, at death our spirits depart earth and join Jesus in heaven. But that’s not the end.

Because truth also looks like what Jesus taught us to pray – that God’s kingdom will come, that His will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). In the person of Christ, God’s kingdom has been ushered into the world so that God’s will can be made known and carried out. And, after Christ’s return, bodies will be raised from the dead to live on the New Heaven and Earth (1 Thessalonians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 15:42-44,52).

I love how NT Wright describes heaven and the future of its transformation (along with earth’s) – that is, think of heaven in its current state as another dimension that coexists alongside ours. Then on the Last Day, the two dimensions merge. Our bodies raised, the New Heaven and New Earth exist as one beautiful place of perfection and Presence (Revelation 21:1-7).

So, when we embrace the truth of what heaven, death, and resurrection are, we begin to grasp why Christian hope is one for the future AND the present. Friends, we have hope that things in our lives can change because the ultimate Christian hope is a person – One who lived, died, and defeated death by His resurrection. Our hope has already come to life in Jesus! And through Him, we can live in hope for the here and now, as well as for our future life with Him.

This Hope

This truth about Easter – about resurrection’s power and life – lays the foundation for all that is to come in this series. Just as we look for life in the once-dead-looking trees, we can search for Christ in all our sufferings. We can put all our trust in His promises. And we can hang-on to this uniquely Christian hope.

This hope is anchored in the person of Christ. This hope promises God’s presence, protection, provision. This hope flows from the blood shed on the cross. This hope rises like our Savior from the grave, resurrecting life when everything around us and in us is death. This hope puts all bets on the future when Jesus returns and the resurrected believers join Him in the New Heaven and New Earth.

So, let’s step out of the tombs that hold us in death and claim Christ’s resurrection life. Let’s choose to believe in this hope we’ve been given.

Heavenly Father, You are all wisdom. You know all things about all people over all time, and we can only know what You reveal to us. So, we ask for your help as we dig a little deeper into what it means to have a living hope, to live a resurrection life. We know that it’s by your power that You raised Jesus to life, and we’re so grateful that You will raise us to life, as well – both now and for eternity. Lord Jesus, You are our hope in life and death. In You, life springs eternal! We pray that as we stretch our minds to grasp what your resurrection means, we would truly find rest in knowing that YOU LIVE! May we trust that in You our hope is secure. Holy Spirit, the very power You used to raise Jesus to life is IN US, which means we live in the hope of that power, and we trust that it is in us and for us. We believe in the truths of Scripture and join in the tradition of the Church across the millenia. We believe in You, Holy Spirit. We believe in the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
(Inspired by Proverbs 2:6; Matthew 11:27; 1 Peter 1:3; 1 Corinthians 6:14; “Christ Our Hope in Life and Death” by Keith and Kristyn Getty; Romans 1:4; the Apostle’s Creed²)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

1 – The current assumption of many Christians, “heaven is the ultimate destination,” is one that NT Wright says is a product of a popular picture of what happens after death and that it is based on a misunderstanding of some chapters in Revelation. First, he explains that the scene with the twenty-four elders in Revelation 4 and 5 is not a picture of the Last Day but one of a present reality. He says, “Heaven, in the Bible, is not a future destiny but the other, hidden dimension of our ordinary life.” He then describes heaven as God’s dimension that runs parallel to ours, and at the last day the two are merged – as seen in Revelation 21 and 22 (the New Heaven and the New Earth). These are lofty yet deep ideas. I have reread chapters 1 and 2 of Surprised by Hope many times, and I’m still wrapping my brain around them. I do believe that NT Wright is challenging some “popular” ideas about end times with some strong arguments that find their roots in Scripture and Church tradition. I do not present myself as an expert on any of this at all. But I find myself nodding my head at what NT Wright points out about our current Christian culture and how much of our “beliefs” are actually merged with the world’s ideas. I hoped to use NT Wright’s teachings as a springboard for us in order to clarify our understanding of resurrection SO THAT we’ll be able to better live from a faith that is rooted in and powered by Christ’s resurrection. And from that, we’ll better live with THIS HOPE.
- I invite you to sink your teeth into NT Wright’s Surprised by Hope^ book — then let me know what you think. True confessions…I haven’t made it past the first two chapters because I keep rereading them. LOL
2 – The Apostle’s Creed: https://www.churchofengland.org/our-faith/what-we-believe/apostles-creed
In our new “This Hope” playlist, I’ve tried to capture with songs many of the truths described in this post — truths that will become themes woven throughout our spring series: resurrection power, hope in suffering, hope in God’s promises. The opening song, “We’ve Got This Hope,” by Ellie Holcomb absolutely nails our themes, and I can’t stop listening to it!

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

In our journey to become more Christ-like, to deepen our knowing of Him and strengthen our faith in Him, we incorporate rhythms in our lives — not to box us into legalistic have-to’s but to develop within ourselves a delight in being with Him. This spring, I’d love for us to lean into the rhythm of meditation. Unlike eastern meditation that seeks to empty the mind and self of everything, Christian meditation desires to fill our minds and beings with Christ. SO — each day, to the best of our abilities, let’s meditate on God’s Word. Each week I’ll suggest a chapter or passage of Scripture that we can settle into, or as my friend JD Walt says, “ruminate on the Word just as a cow ruminates on his cud.” In other words, don’t rush. Read. Pause. Listen. Reread. Pause. Receive. Give space for the Spirit to reveal and enlighten.
- This week, we can meditate (or ruminate) on 1 Corinthians 15. It’s a long chapter in which Paul addresses a “popular” idea that there is no resurrection of the dead, so it’s full of resurrection language and teaching. If it’s overwhelming to meditate on the entire chapter, focus on the section containing verses 12-23. Read less for information and more for inspiration. And if the Spirit leads you to pause on one verse, stay there! Freedom in the Spirit!!
Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light into the world!

Featured Photo by CP on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
^ Affiliate link, with which I may earn a bit.

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 the one who was going to redeem Israel” (v.21).

As if a ghost, Jesus suddenly appears, proclaiming peace and asking, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?” (v.38). He exhibits His wounds, eats a little fish, and explains, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me” (v.45), then He expands their minds to understand that He, the Messiah, had to suffer and rise from the dead (v.46).

Yet, still they ask, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6, emphasis mine). Despite everything Jesus has said and demonstrated, something in the disciples continues to expect a savior who resembles David more than God – someone who would restore Israel to its former glory and defeat its enemies.

For the men who worked most closely with the Son of God, who loved Him most fiercely, who followed Him despite what He asked of them – these disciples, these apostles, they found it hard to grasp exactly what Jesus was up to.

His ways are higher than their ways (Isaiah 55:9).

Our God transcends all human experience and understanding. The disciples felt the truth of this as they wrestled with Jesus’ teachings and actions – over and over failing to understand (Luke 18:34).

His thoughts are higher than their thoughts (Isaiah 55:9).

Yet Jesus, who walked the earth in order to give His life, first had to descend from the heavens (Ephesians 4:10). He had to leave His throne room in order to usher in God’s kingdom here on earth (Luke 17:20-21). And, when He ascended back to His place of power and authority, He sent His Spirit to dwell in us (Acts 1:8, 2:4).

Our heavenly Lord is transcendent and immanent – both beyond our grasp and beckoning us to be with Him, just as He is within us.

Empty Tomb

The disciples thought they understood the plan – heal and make whole so people would follow Jesus. THEN, He’d set them free.

They thought they knew who they were following – the Messiah, the One from God who wouldn’t die but rise to power.

But then the cross. His death. Along with Jesus’ body, their hopes for all that Messiah would bring were buried. Dead.

So, when the women found an empty tomb on that first Easter morning, Jesus’ ways once again transcended their ability to perceive what it could mean. And it makes me wonder what I miss about the empty tomb – have I heard the story so many times that I fail to grasp its fullness?

The Son of God died and was buried. For three days in utter darkness and the stink of death.

Then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ body – His human yet immortal, flesh and blood body – was resurrected. Brought to life. Living and breathing. Talking and laughing. Eating and teaching.

Resurrected.

Jesus’ death defeated sin. His resurrection conquered death. It left the tomb empty and the stone rolled away so His followers could peer inside and know the truth.

He lives!

So that we can live. Yes, in eternity – always and forever with Him – but also now.

Paul calls this empty-tomb-living the “newness of life:”

For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. …Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. …Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.
Romans 6:4,23; 7:6b NLT

Suddenly and beautifully, a once-lofty idea settles into my soul.

In my own spiritual self, I’ve died – to sin. Jesus’ death brings a glorious power upon me, upon all His followers, to be able to die. to. sin. And, just as He was brought to life, so are we – resurrected into newness of life. New lives, sanctified because of the Spirit in us.

What was once a sin-defined existence is re-defined by resurrection.
What was once a life unworthy is redeemed and readied for holy living.
What was once a tomb of a body is now a temple.

Our Hope

So, when I think about all that makes us tired and torn, weak and weary, I look back into the empty tomb. And remember.

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:31

Not because of the way they live but because of His death. Not because life will always make sense but because He is with us. Not because life will always work out the way we want but because in Him we have a living hope (1 Timothy 4:10).

Our hope – it is in the One who can never die, the One who defeated death.
Our hope – it is as alive as our Savior who walked out of His empty tomb to usher in new life.
Our hope – it is transcendent of our logical ways of thinking yet finds its anchor in truth.
Our hope – it is immanent because it resides within us, because He dwells within us.

Friend, this Easter Day I pray you can look into the empty tomb and find the fullness of hope – a holy hope that’s as alive as He is, as new as you are, and as present as the Spirit in you. I pray that you can embrace our God who is as transcendent as He is immanent and trust that His love for you is enough to overcome any sin that wants to keep you in the tomb.

Christ is risen! And with Him, so are we!

Father God, thank You for sending your one and only Son to die on our behalf so that our faith in Him redeems all our sin and gives us new life. Lord Jesus, we celebrate your victory over death. To see the empty tomb is to remind us of the fullness of new life we’ve been given – both now and for eternity. Holy Spirit, your presence in us proves that we no longer live as empty tombs but as holy temples. We ask for your continuous help to live out this new life we’ve been given with humility and hope, with intentionality and integrity, with your truth and our trust. Empower us to embody all that Jesus is so that our lives can be beacons of light in the world around us just as His light displayed God’s glory on the first Easter morning. Hallelujah! Christ is risen! In His name, amen.
(inspired by: John 3:16; Romans 6:4; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; John 14:26; Ephesians 4:2-6, 21-24; Psalm 25:21; Jeremiah 17:7; Matthew 5:14-16; John 17:1-5)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

Just as Bryan and Katie Torwalt’s lyrics in “Nothing Is Holding Me Back” on our God of Hope playlist remind us, Jesus is doing something new. And Easter really marks us with that truth — like Him and in Him, we have died to our old selves and old ways, and we’re born into new life! And should we doubt we have the strength or power to live in such newness of life, We the Kingdom belts out the truth that “God Is On the Throne” — Hallelujah! He reigns! He saves! He’s never gonna let us down!
This ends our Lent series. I can’t believe our seven weeks have gone so fast. We’ll continue our exploration of hope in the next series, “This Hope,” where we’ll look at how suffering and hope work together. I know — suffering doesn’t sound like much fun. But the truth is, we all do suffer in this life, so it helps to know that in God’s upside-down kingdom, our suffering not only has purpose but our hope can be sourced by it. And the foundation of all our hope in the midst of suffering is God’s promises. Y’all, I think this is gonna be a good one. I hope you’ll join in and invite someone else to take part too. Happy Easter! XOXO

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

I pray that this rhythm of putting Isaiah’s words to memory sinks deeply into our psyches so that we’ll always remember that those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength — in Him, we’ll soar like eagles!!!!!

Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31, NIV
Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others — especially in this Easter Season! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light into the world!

Featured Photo by Photo by Jonny Gios on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.