How will they know Me?

a journey that I am undertaking right now is the journey of faith - to believe that which we can not see but is certain of, to being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (NIV).

The Amplified Bible says in Hebrews 1:1 "NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality (faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses)"

so here's the thing.... we can easily have faith when everything works according to (my) plan... that which i've prayed for, asked for, is comfortable in, expecting.

however, when that faith is called to go beyond the "what" - the job/ relationship/ financial stability/ peace and comfort to the "who", that is when true faith is displayed.

I've come to realise that God is much more interested in my character than my comfort. God is much more interested in my growth than an easy life. God loves me much more than letting me live a life of mediocrity. And if I can't follow God through that which is not easy, comfortable, gladdening, instilling hope, then what do I believe?

If people can not see how God leads me through the hurt, the desperation, the loss, the hatred, how will they ever know His love?

God is not interested in me being a woman obsessed about her own glory, but He is looking for someone obsessed with the glory of God. If others do not see the Christ in me, how will they ever know Him. My life, walking with God through the good and the bad, the easy and the tough times, the reality of a life on this earth, might be the only Bible/ Word of God that they will ever read.

How will they know Him, through me?

hope

it's been a while since i've blogged here... having lost a bit of the passion and wondering whether it even makes a difference in anyone's life. and this morning, on my facebook, i get a note from someone who found comfort in what i wrote. and i realised, that if this makes even a difference in just one person's life, it is a mustard seed that's been planted. even if that person is me...

so i've decided to start writing again.

and i thought i'd speak about hope. i think for so many of us, we've been beaten up so much by life, hectic schedules, harsh words spoken in a time-starved moment, unappreciative colleagues excluding us from the inner circle, people who discourage us and make us feel small. and disappointment, disappointment that when i thought i really tried to believe as hard as i could, i still did not get what i hoped for.

and that's when i realised that somewhere deep deep down, my heart had closed up to hope. if you've been beaten down one too many times, and if you have lived through a lot of heartache and if you've heard one too many sermons on "if you live a life pleasing of God, it will all be blessed", you'll find that you've stopped hoping. you're still believing God, that He is good and righteous and fair and amazing, but somewhere deep in the recesses of your heart, you've stopped believing that He is hope and that He is all these things for you. You've given up on dreams and hoping things will get better. You've given up on knowing that life also gets its ups.

and the other night during worship, that is what i experienced. as i said there before my heavenly Father, it was as if something broke open in my heart, like an infection that had been closed up for too long. and i realised that i had given up hope that God had good plans for me. on a head level i still believed it, but without realising it, my heart had died and with it, hope.

and that is when i had a revelation, when 1 Corinthians 13 speaks about the three things that need to remain: love, faith and hope, i've always understood the importance of love and faith, but didn't think that hope was quite as important. i knew that i had to guard my heart as "it is the wellspring of all life", but didn't realise that i had to guard my heart to remain hopeful. and in that moment, i knew that hope is the lifeblood of going on, standing firm, taking on God-sized assignments, loving God. without hope we will just get stuck in living day to day.

what is it that you hope for today, or used to hope for? The Faithful One says "I will never leave you nor forsake you" and "I have plans for you to prosper you". Perhaps today is the day that you need to open your heart again to hope. Because we can hope in him who is the only one we could really hope in. Lord won't you renew our hope.