Category Archives: Hope

Promise of Spring

January 27, 2023 By in Hope 4 Comments

The winter landscape is beautiful when you gaze on white, glistening snow. You experience God’s majesty as you view His creation.

Winter, however, also brings cold, rainy, dreary weather and you wonder if the sun will ever come out.

Both describe the winter season.

Sometimes our lives feel the same way. We can have glorious highs with the Lord but also deep valleys.

When I walk in our yard during January, at times I’ll see daffodils emerging if we’ve had an unusual warm spell. Occasionally you can even see the flower buds.

Daffodils are extremely resilient. They survive frigid temperatures without any injury to the bulbs. For me, daffodils proclaim the promise of spring because they always bloom no matter how many storms they’ve endured.

The “promise of spring” is also crucial in our spiritual lives.

Like daffodils, Bible scholars say there are more than 8,000 promises in the Bible. 

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Fireball

December 17, 2022 By in Hope, Trust Leave a comment

Have you ever felt like you were hit by a fireball and then exploded? Sometimes life is like that and we wonder where God is in the midst of the explosion.

What are we supposed to do when the barrage hits? Our initial response might be to duck and hope it goes away. Some people might rely on alcohol or drugs to deaden the pain. What would the Lord want us to do?

A fireball can wear many faces …

Financial difficulties, marriage struggles, death of a loved one, a friend’s betrayal, illness, unanswered questions.

The list of possibilities is endless and the fireball could just be one or there might be a volley of fireballs. 

When Job was in the midst of the horrendous fireballs in his life, he said,”Though He slay me, yet will I trust.” (Job 13:15) Trust is difficult when it seems like our life is unraveling and our heart is shattered. Trust is reliance on the Lord’s strength. In the midst of the turmoil, we usually do not have much strength so it is imperative that we put our hope and trust in the Lord.

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The Web

February 28, 2018 By in Hope, Patience 2 Comments

Spider webs are beautifully and intricately woven. They are incredibly strong, and for the spider’s prey, very deadly.  If you brush up against one unexpectedly, you might involuntarily shudder; but when the sun shines on a dew-covered web, you marvel at its spider web 2exquisiteness. It is the exact same web seen from two different perspectives. Webs can be a protection or they can lead to destruction.

Most people have probably heard the story of the soldier who hid in the cave while he anticipated being captured by the enemy. Then a spider wove a web across the entrance. The enemy did not enter the cave because the web gave the appearance that the cave had been unoccupied for a long time. The spider’s web became the man’s protection.

When the Lord creates our web, He can use it to shield and protect us. Sometimes, we need to retreat or regroup for a short time. Often, when I am in a “Wait” season, I feel like I am enclosed in a dark cave of uncertainty with a subsequent lack of direction. For me, waiting is difficult. It’s not that I feel like I’m floundering, but it is hard to not have a clear direction especially when it concerns important, life changing decisions.

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Garden of Delight

August 18, 2014 By in Healing, Hope, Woundedness 1 Comment

Working in my flower gardens is one of my favorite delights. I love to watch them change from mere soil into beds filled with beautiful flowers. I believe that the Lord is the Master Gardener. He delights in transforming dry, dead, dismal gardens into works of art.

my_gardenThe Lord frequently speaks to me through prophetic pictures and many years ago He showed me that I was like a lifeless, desolate garden. His picture was not pretty.

In the Lord’s picture I opened a garden gate expecting to find a beautiful garden, but instead what He showed me was a brown, dried up, dead enclosed garden that did not have even one sprig of green. I was not instantly encouraged by the Lord’s picture!

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Dopeless Hope Fiends

April 9, 2014 By in Fellowship, Hope, Jail 1 Comment

While visiting one of our indigenous fellowships in the local jail yesterday, a brother blew me away with this comment:

“On the outside, we were hopeless dope fiends. In jail, God is turning us into dopeless hope fiends.”

I liked that, and love how God brings hope to the hopeless.

~ Jim Wright

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