Grace Chasers
  • Home
    • Contact Us >
      • Recommended
  • Faith
    • Church Attendance: What's In It For Me?
    • Say Something I'm Giving Up on You (or why I'd love to join a church)
    • This is Home
    • For The Ragamuffins
    • The Indictment
    • The Journey Home
    • Turn Aside
    • Riding Out The Storm
    • Where You Find Yourself
    • Where Was God?
    • Healed and Held
    • Out of Alignment
    • What if I Were a Muslim?
    • Taking off the Mask
    • The Rescue
    • Uncertainty
    • Grace, Only Grace
    • Identity Crisis
    • Centered
    • The Why Questions
    • When God Doesn't Heal
    • Eternity in Our Hearts
    • A Plead For Unity
    • One of Them Days
    • Abba, Father
    • Fresh Eyes
    • One Thing More
    • Every Word Matters
    • Dis Connect
    • Satellites
    • Living For The Mission
    • Twelve
    • Seeking God's Will in Everyday Decisions
    • Unchanged
    • Uninvited
    • A New Commandment
    • Sunday Mornings
    • Hope
    • The Great Invitation
    • (Ir)Relevant
    • What's My Motivation?
    • I Don't Want To Get Over You
    • His Heartbeat
    • Lay it Down
    • We Shine Like Stars
    • Breaking Through
    • Trust Issues
    • Stuck in Numbers
    • Out of Our Control
    • Say So
    • Re: Focus
    • Getting Past- The Heart of the Matter
    • Face Down
    • The Business of Love
    • Surrendering Our Rights
    • Grace Does
    • The One Conversation
  • Seasons of Life
    • Miss You
    • Beginnings
    • A New Beginning
    • Four Seasons
    • Give Thanks
    • A Dream of Spring
    • Prone To Wonder
    • Splinters
    • Free Refills
    • Silent Night?
    • Early Christmas
    • Mary's Song
    • Christmas Past
    • A Dream From His Father
    • Proof of Love
    • The Close of Summer
    • Fall Awakenings
    • Memorial Day- Remembering the Lord's Past Goodness
    • God Shed HIs Grace on Thee
    • The End is Only The Beginning
    • The Sacred Journey
    • Air
    • The Longing
    • A Thousand Words
    • Faith Like A Child
  • Stories and Such
    • Doubt!
    • Along The Way
    • The Tree That Calls My Name
    • Praise Hymn
    • A Good Life
    • A Story for Those Forgiven
    • Something to Celebrate
    • A Lifetime of Love
    • All That You Can't Leave Behind
    • Coffee and Jesus
    • Tiny Hands and Baby Powder
    • The Busted Play
    • The Hill
    • The Old Country Church
    • Noah and a Better Way
    • Dawn Breaking
    • The Power of a Moment
    • Zu Zu's Petals
    • Thanks Be To God
    • The Search Is Over
    • An Interview with Jon Akin
    • Pursued By Grace
    • The Flood
    • Dog Days
    • Grace Land
    • Broken Inside
    • Where I've Been
    • Waving Our Flags
    • My Father's Hands
    • Rediscovering Narnia
    • Solitude
    • A Place Called Tennessee
    • A Tale of Reconciliation
    • Pocketful of Treasure
    • On Paris, ISIS and the Ground Swell of Hate
    • A Midnight Prayer
    • A "Least of These" Tale
    • Right to Live, Right to Die
    • The Stairway
  • Lessons
    • Sediment
    • The Lights From Home
    • And Grace Will Lead Us Home
    • How He Loves
    • Proof of Life
    • Which Jesus Did You Get?
    • Grumpypants
    • We Are Held
    • Fight the Fear
    • Love is Messy
    • The Difference He Makes
    • No, I mean He really Loves you
    • Left Unsaid
    • Hands of an Angry God
    • Milk
    • The Transaction
    • Teach Your Children Well
    • Come To The Table
    • The Lost Art of Conversation
    • Embracing Brokenness
    • The Last Stand
    • Sinners and Psalms
  • In The Word
    • Counting Joys
    • The God Who Sees Me
    • A Bride's Worth
    • The Dilemma
    • One Race, One Blood
    • Who is My Neighbor?
    • Exceeding Glory
    • Just A Glimpse
    • The Battle
    • White As Snow
    • The Demonstration
    • And Then The End Will Come
    • A Friend Like That

HOPE

8/20/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Life sometimes hands us sorrows that we cannot fathom and that we were not prepared for. Times when Hope seems faint and the crushing waves will not stop rushing over us. They hold us down, not allowing us to come up for air. We learn to just stop fighting against the onslaught of disappointments and despairs. We are so tired that we just want to give up. The day begins and as soon as we step out the door, the rains come at us sideways and the gale force winds blister us, driving those rains into our skin at a frightening pace. We then feel miserable, damp and alone.

Or maybe it's not us but an acquaintance, or a friend who just needs someone to reach out to them. Oftentimes we do not know what to say or do to bring comfort or healing to them. Sometimes we lose friends to unexpected events, or lose friendships to things beyond our control. Sometimes waves of regret come for not reaching out to them better, or choosing different words to say to them that may have been more helpful. Sometimes our light is too dim for them to see any hope within us. Maybe we were just hanging on ourselves and didn't feel we could help them at all.


As followers of Christ, we must believe that there is Hope before being able to provide it for others. Unaware of our true position in Him, we can be as lost as those who are still searching for Home. We can be tossed by every wave and pushed easily to the brink of despair, all because we wrongly believe that we should not have any troubles or heartaches. We think that life is supposed to be perfect and that there should not be any trials for us. But this is not what Jesus promised (John 16:33). And to continue to be surprised by what life throws at us shows a lack of trust in His Sovereign Will and the Hope that He offers. Knowing from the stories in the Bible that there were those who trusted Him, but still dealt with depression and despair, should give us some comfort. Even Jesus wanted His disciples to watch and pray with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, and they failed to do it. We can never know the depth of His emotions in those moments that night, but the Bible describes it as agony.

We have all felt loss and pain, felt down, lonely, misunderstood or betrayed by those closest to us. We've all had times when things didn't seem to be going our way. As we begin to understand that we will suffer, that we will have to endure tough days, and that the point of these "light and momentary afflictions" is to bring us closer to Him; we will understand these hard times better. As His Glory is revealed, we will know that He allows these tough places in order to help us grow and stretch us. It doesn't mean we will always like it, but that we can learn to believe He has the best outcome in mind for us.

As we are swirled around in the deep, no longer trying to resist the waves crashing above and the current that is sweeping us towards the shore, we somehow find a strange peace. Knowing that He is in control and has allowed these endless walls of water to come. Jesus brother, James, says “And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.” We can begin to share that Hope with others who need it as we go through our own trials and see how He holds us through them. He is with us in the torrent, in the suffering, and this is the difference that we can make. We can bring the hurting and broken, our friends, and those we love and care about to Him, the embodiment of Peace. For we have something that the enemy and his demons do not have..... Hope.



Submit
0 Comments

    Archives

    August 2014

    Categories

    All
    Crushed
    Despair
    Disappointment
    Hope
    Sorrow
    Trials
    Waves

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.