GRIP ON HOPE

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

Lamentations 3:20-24 (MSG) –

It’s a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God

I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed. I remember it all—oh, how well I remember the feeling of hitting the bottom. But there’s one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.

Pastor Chad shared from this little passage yesterday in Paducah Kentucky as he officiated the funeral of my dear friend David M.’s mother, P.W.

Not to divulge too much, but David mother’s life was a hard one and while Chad did not share this passage from Peterson’s (the MESSAGE) frame, knowing the little that I know about her life, this passage could have been written by her it was most certainly written for yesterday’s service.

She had experienced “lostness” for the better part of her life

She had struggled with addiction (“the poison I’ve swallowed”)

She had been at the bottom and sometimes they had a basement.

Yet as Pastor Chad shared his recent interactions with her, as Pastor Chad shared stories of her care for others, her desire to change, and as Pastor Chad shared the amazing video of her recent baptism into CHRIST something else was evidently TRUE and expressed perfectly by this passage from the paraphrasing pen of Peterson, she “KEPT A GRIP ON HOPE”.

In spite of a lifestyle that had contributed to a devastating illness, in spite of spending the last days in what some consider a “hopeless” context, HOSPICE, Pastor Chad iterated over and over again that HER GRIP on HOPE following her acceptance of CHRIST just months before was strong and sure.

And what could have been a tragic end to a hard life was instead a catalyst for HOPE for those who came to pay their respects and support the family left behind.  P.W.’s faithful and unwavering assurance that regardless of the past, regardless of the pain, GOD’S LOYAL LOVE was not about to run out was a powerful and hopeful message!

Today friend you may be tasting the ash of some poor decisions or from being bitterly burned by another.  You may like P.W. have swallowed your fair share of life’s poison and are tired, bruised and rattled. Maybe the bottom feels a little too close for comfort.

Be encouraged by the story of P.W. and the TRUTH that GOD’S loyal love doesn’t run out, that HOPE is secure, that mercy has birthed a new supply of it today!

And as you grasp and bask in that hope today, please pray for David and his family; pray that the hope shared yesterday will lift them and carry them through their difficult days.

Remember:

“It is impossible for that man/woman to despair who remembers that his Helper is omnipotent.” ― Jeremy Taylor

For:

God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks. It’s a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God. 

Lamentations 3:25-26 (MSG)

I love you all…

Have a blessed weekend…

Opportunities for Hope (Champions Charge)