It was exactly 6 months ago today that Markel & I sped across the country to see my dad who’d just suffered a stroke.
Last night, however, I joined my sister & nephew to play boardgames with him! Praise Jesus!
At the end of the game, he asked if we could talk, so we found a quiet corner amidst the houseful of fam, & he shared something that immediately made my eyes leak:
“If you want to find encouragement in your faith, go to Hebrews 11.
If you need encouragement on how to love, read 1 Corinthians 13.
When it comes to hope, however, there’s not a specific chapter, so I want to take this moment to encourage you to remain steadfast in your following the Person of Hope for it is only with Him that it will be found.”
He then encouraged me through 1 Cor. 15:58:
“Therefore, Kimberly, be strong & immovable. Always working enthusiastically for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless or in vain.”
The room was silent after he read it. The sounds of my little nieces playing in the background faded as we sat in teary silence…
It was what I needed to hear & he knew it.
He spoke a few more treasures, & this morning, my Heavenly Father added a few more:
You might grow weak & fainthearted in your doings & followings, but if the metric of measurement of success is based on circumstance or people, you will always be left with a feeling of hopeLESSness. Placing hope there is like building a house on sand for it will fail miserably at establishing anything of eternal worth & value.
Place hope in your risen Savior, letting the work of your hands be in His wake & at His command, for it is there you can stand immovable knowing nothing you do will ever be in vain if it be in Him!
True Christianity, even when things don’t go the way we want, never separates the life that is now from that which is to come.
Jesus is our Source of hope, even when things FEEL hopeless. The enemy cannot decrease the work of our hands & the Hope of our hearts when we keep in Jesus’s wake, promoting the King & advancing His Kingdom!
Father, things may change, but You do not. Thank you that even though feelings may fail, we can stand steadfast in the hope we have in You!
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