Wait in hope for the Lord - Ps. 33:20

Spring has sprung here in Texas - even though it's not officially due for a few more weeks.  When I lived in Chicago for several years, the grey days of winter really took it's toll and could be a particularly depressing time for many of us.  We waited - sometimes not very patiently - for the first crocuses to appear along Lake Michigan.  But we always knew it would come eventually.  Bernard Williams says:  

The day the Lord created hope was probably

the same day He created Spring.

Dr. Michelle Bengtson has written a book called HOPE PREVAILS.  She is a Dallas neuropsychologist who for many years suffered debilitating depression.  And for many years prescribed in her practice various forms of treatment...many of which were very effective.  But when it came to her own illness, she said "...hope was elusive".  She tells about a friend who came by to see her in the midst of her worst days, and she shared a Bible verse with her.  At that moment, she says:

As I began to recite God's Word, especially his promises,

the dark cloud that had settled in my heart began to lift and I

began to feel more hopeful.

When you have faith in God and believe He is who He says He is, hope is possible and you can know one day things will be better.  Dr. Bengtson says "hope...is a belief in a purpose, the belief in something better" and Hebrews 6:19 says: "hope is an anchor for the soul, firm and secure".  Like a boat adrift on the sea, it holds steady and fixed when there is an anchor.  Jesus is that anchor.  It holds us secure and steady.  That doesn't mean we won't drift a bit, but the anchor holds.  She says: "I can offer nothing to my patients that heals unilaterally.  My words don't fix, and my suggestions don't heal.  God heals".

We must believe God is at work (Romans 8:28)  "...in ALL things" even when we don't see it.  But we don't have to see it to believe it...that's what faith is.  Hebrews 11:1 says "...faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."  Spring is coming!

For further study:  Psalm 62:5, Isaiah 30:18, Isaiah 40:31, Lamentations 3:21-23, Micah 7:7, Romans 15:13, 2 Corinthians 1:10-11, Colossians 1:27, Hebrews 6:18-20.

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

Love,

Holly