Find rest, O m soul, in God alone, my hope come from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Psalm 62: 5-7
Yahweh Tsure (yah-WEH tsu-REE) The Lord My Rock - representing God's permanence, protection, and enduring faithfulness.
Gabriel Marcel defines hope as "a memory of the future." I had to stop and think about that one. To me it means that we are not "stuck" where we are at the present time. "This" is not all there is. A very small example would be normally I work a half-time position, job sharing with another nurse. We have a set schedule but are free to trade days with one another, giving us great flexibility. However, for the past 3 weeks and at least one more we are all working full-time+ to make a huge transition in our office. Right now I'm living with the hope that the future will be as it was in the past - part-time! Obviously this example is not a major life event but the same thought process can work for us when it is.If we know that the Lord is My Rock - steady, permanent, solid in our lives we have reason to have hope. Just because the circumstances of our life at this moment are chaotic and appear to be something we have to go "through" and not around does not mean I have to "give up." I can have hope because my God is a "rock." He has a plan for me. One of my favorite authors, Henry Blackaby asks this in his book about Abraham entitled, Created to Be God's Friend: How God Shapes Those He Loves.
"Have you ever felt the magnitude of God's encounter with you? Have you so sensed His eternal purpose through you that you have radically and thoroughly released your will to His will, and your heart to His Heart? Have you been progressively experiencing God's shaping your character to match His assignment in your life?...Every Christian is ...called by God to be on a mission with Him in His world."
That thought can fill us with hope. Even in your current circumstances which can feel trapping, overwhelming, stifiling God is shaping me because He loves me. He created me with a purpose. We have a "memory of the future" - a future that God planned, eternity with Him! That will never change. Hold on to your hope - hope in Christ.
I love this story of a 12 year boy who was having a nightmare that recurred several times in a month. In his dream whenever he focused on an object it would suddenly shrink and then start spinning counterclockwise at ever-increasing speeds. The experience was so unnerving that when he woke up, he saw objects in his bedroom growing smaller and smaller and then beginning to spin uncontrollably, just like in his nightmare. Finally one night the dream changed. "I was having the dream, " Christopher explained, "when suddenly a slab of stone appeared right in front of my face so I couldn't see anything else. It looked like it was some kind of marble and had handles on either side and writing on it. As soon as I saw it I grabbed on to the handles. When I looked closer, I realized the inscription read: "Jesus Is the Rock." It blocked out all the stuff that had been scaring me, and I never had the dream again." When he looked at the stone, he couldn't see anything else.
Can you focus on our "Rock"? When we focus on God it totally changes our perspective. What are you looking at today?
Yahweh Tsure (yah-WEH tsu-REE) The Lord My Rock - representing God's permanence, protection, and enduring faithfulness.
Gabriel Marcel defines hope as "a memory of the future." I had to stop and think about that one. To me it means that we are not "stuck" where we are at the present time. "This" is not all there is. A very small example would be normally I work a half-time position, job sharing with another nurse. We have a set schedule but are free to trade days with one another, giving us great flexibility. However, for the past 3 weeks and at least one more we are all working full-time+ to make a huge transition in our office. Right now I'm living with the hope that the future will be as it was in the past - part-time! Obviously this example is not a major life event but the same thought process can work for us when it is.If we know that the Lord is My Rock - steady, permanent, solid in our lives we have reason to have hope. Just because the circumstances of our life at this moment are chaotic and appear to be something we have to go "through" and not around does not mean I have to "give up." I can have hope because my God is a "rock." He has a plan for me. One of my favorite authors, Henry Blackaby asks this in his book about Abraham entitled, Created to Be God's Friend: How God Shapes Those He Loves.
"Have you ever felt the magnitude of God's encounter with you? Have you so sensed His eternal purpose through you that you have radically and thoroughly released your will to His will, and your heart to His Heart? Have you been progressively experiencing God's shaping your character to match His assignment in your life?...Every Christian is ...called by God to be on a mission with Him in His world."
That thought can fill us with hope. Even in your current circumstances which can feel trapping, overwhelming, stifiling God is shaping me because He loves me. He created me with a purpose. We have a "memory of the future" - a future that God planned, eternity with Him! That will never change. Hold on to your hope - hope in Christ.
I love this story of a 12 year boy who was having a nightmare that recurred several times in a month. In his dream whenever he focused on an object it would suddenly shrink and then start spinning counterclockwise at ever-increasing speeds. The experience was so unnerving that when he woke up, he saw objects in his bedroom growing smaller and smaller and then beginning to spin uncontrollably, just like in his nightmare. Finally one night the dream changed. "I was having the dream, " Christopher explained, "when suddenly a slab of stone appeared right in front of my face so I couldn't see anything else. It looked like it was some kind of marble and had handles on either side and writing on it. As soon as I saw it I grabbed on to the handles. When I looked closer, I realized the inscription read: "Jesus Is the Rock." It blocked out all the stuff that had been scaring me, and I never had the dream again." When he looked at the stone, he couldn't see anything else.
Can you focus on our "Rock"? When we focus on God it totally changes our perspective. What are you looking at today?
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