Full of Hope

Another round of snow!  Man, does it ever feel long waiting for spring this time of year.  The little tastes of warmth, the change in the sunlight, it all indicates something is coming... but here we are scraping cars and shoveling side walks... and waiting.

Waiting is part of life. Patient waiting is hard. Something within us is wired for expectancy.  That we look forward to things coming is uniquely human.  Hope is a beautiful thing!

But looking forward can also make life more difficult.  Worry is looking forward with fear.  How often do you find yourself imagining what is next and dreading it?  Worry can eat away at our peace, our joy, and increase the stress that drains our health.

So how do we fuel the positive side of looking ahead?  Like so many aspects of life, God's answer is built on gratitude.  Last Sunday we opened with a song built around Romans 8:28, "We know that God works all things together for good for those who are called according to His purposes."  To stay centered on hope rather than worry, we must start with what we already know about God.  How has God already worked things together for good for you in your past?  When has God gotten you through your difficult seasons?  Who has God drawn near to you to be an encourager when you needed it?  Did situations you worried over in the past turn out okay?  Give gratitude and be full of thanks for these God-actions in your past.

As you train yourself to look behind and reflect on God's good work in your life, you will start to look forward with hope.  As you identify the way God's hand guided and is repairing your past, you will trust God to work in your future.  And as you look at the imaginations of circumstances that now cause you worry, you will start to trust and have faith that God will also work in those circumstances for good.  It is one of the many promises of God that we can really grab a hold of to live a richer, more abundant, big life!

Join us Sunday we devote our hour of worship together to growing in our understanding and trust of God's work in our lives.  We believe committing our hearts to God during this one hour of worship each week can change every other hour we live.