Dear Precious Friends,
On this beautiful new day, this gift from God, this thankful Thursday I pray your heart is filled with hope. Because of Jesus and what he did for us on Calvary, what we walk through on this earth is just preparing us for heaven.
When things are tough it draws us closer to God making us more Christlike!
We do not need to be disappointed and feel alone. His word reminds us He will never leave us or forsake us.
We have the greatest hope! God's love in our hearts will ignite the flames of hope we have buried deep inside our hearts. God's Word can encourage us as we read it with great anticipation and faith. Paul writes in Romans these words of encouragement. Sometimes God is glorified through the removal of an affliction. When we have a problem, people pray with us about it, and it is resolved, we praise God for that. If a physician performs surgery, and that loved one is cancer-free, we thank God. We thank the doctor, too, but we realize God is the one who is ultimately in control. But then there are times when the surgery doesn't go as well as we had hoped. There are times when the illness is not removed. The problem is not taken away. It is then that God can be glorified through the enduring of the affliction. And it is through hardship that we will develop hope.
You would think the best way to find hope is to have a trouble-free life. No, the best way to find hope is through the crises of life. In Romans 5:3–4 we read, "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Hope comes through hardship. When a Christian suffers and still glorifies God, it reassures the rest of us there never will be a valley so deep that God will not get us through it. It also reminds us that death is not the end. Physical death is not the end of existence; it is just a change in the state of existence.
The tomb is not the entrance to death, but the entrance to life. Heaven is the earthly life of the believer, glorified and perfected. When we go home to be with our Lord we are immediately in God's presence.
That is our ultimate hope
The purpose and reason we are still here is to share our hope with all we come in contact with.
The purpose and reason we are still here is to share our hope with all we come in contact with.Have a blessed day knowing how loved you are
