Hope is Alive

by Andrea Noles

Hope is Alive…

Isn’t it funny the difference a few days can make?

In Mount Holly, this time last week we were braving the ripples of Hurricane Florence and wondering just how bad things may get. Groceries stores were depleted, generators were purchased, and Brad Panovich was our hope for truth. Yes, I’m a Fanovich!

We just wanted to know what was coming… We wanted to be a prepared people…  we just wanted to know we would be okay.

And here we are, sitting in the first day of fall, with hope that the temperatures will soon match the season.
There is hope for us southern folks…. It’s called November.. but alas we will spread the pumpkin cheer and douse everything in pumpkin spice because we know what’s coming.

This past week I ran across a quote that settled instantly in my spirit. I quickly took a screenshot & shared it out for all the world to see… because doesn’t the Bible call us to share the good news- to be truth tellers, joy bringers, and messengers of hope.

Here’s what it said…

“When the stories about a student are saturated with negativity, have the courage to not join in. Tell a new story of their unique abilities and moments of kindness. Tell the story of hope."

Ahhhhh, that word.
Hope.

On Monday, it started showing up everywhere I looked-- instagram, music, art, scripture.
Then I really started seeing it.
I saw it in the eyes of kids at my school. In the hearts of my colleagues who constantly remind me of what real love looks like. I saw it in my baby who just wanted another wagon ride because he knows the wagon will lead him to the stop sign. And he is simply fascinated with that big red Octagon.

Hope is alive today, dear friends.

If you’ve never read Romans 12, you’re missing out on the most amazing cup of hope in all of scripture. Every word of it is rich in wisdom and truth. Paul appeals to the Romans and basically says… you are not your own, you’re called to be different… to be living sacrifices..to be set apart from the patterns of the world.

He continues on and teaches us about the gifts of grace and marks of a true Christian. He says to have genuine love, to outdo one another in showing honor, to rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and constant in prayer.  See the hope here. It’s Jesus. It’s all the ways Jesus lived and taught us to live. Paul did us a HUGE favor and poured all the truth in a Romans 12 cup and says, “Drink ye all of this Christian friends, it is good.”

Just like Paul, there is an amazing musical theologian that can string syllables together, add a little music, and give us a Romans 12 hope, all the while encouraging us to move, speak life, and shine our lights bright.

The great, Toby Mac. 

A few days ago I went for a walk and his song, Speak Life, came through my earbuds like a flash of lightning.

Yo it’s crazy, amazing

We can turn our heart through the words we say

Mountains crumble with every syllable

Hope can live or die

Look into the eyes of the broken hearted

Watch them come alive as soon as you speak hope

And then this..

Where does Hope originate? Where does it come from? And how can we keep it? 

This week on Instagram Stories we will be talking about these questions and continue this conversation of hope.

I want a hope that is lasting.  A hope that is not dependent upon circumstance. A hope that goes beyond the thrill of a new outfit, new car, or new anything. 

I want a hope that overflows from the simple gift of Jesus Christ. 

So let’s raise our cup of truth this week and declare ourselves people of Hope.

Let’s promise to position ourselves with an attitude of love and grace. 

Let’s have the courage to tell a better story about a person.

Let’s rid ourselves of resentment and bitterness and love the unloving. 

Let’s be a prepared people and let the world know that everything is going to be okay.

Through storms and sunshine. Darkness and light.

Hope is alive today.

Dare to Hope

By Hannah Clements

The book of Lamentations has recently drawn me in. Even its name has caught my eye. To lament means to mourn, grieve, and sob. I picture laying on your face in the dust kind of mourning.

Lamentations was written during a time of great mourning. The city of Jerusalem was destroyed and in pieces. Sobs were heard through the night. The roads were mourning. Friends became enemies. Hearts were broken, and souls were in despair. (Lamentations 1)

It caught my eye because I have reason to believe that many can relate to Lamentations in our present day. Our city and circles are mourning. Some of our homes, lives, and relationships lay in ruins. People are mourning loss, betrayal, and disappointment. We are lamenting for reasons known by others and reasons hidden privately within our own walls.

Truthfully, Lamentations is hard to read. Not only were the people in great mourning, but they were violently starving. The picture isn’t pretty. Some of our pictures aren’t pretty either.

Lamentations 3:19 says, “The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time as I grieve over my loss."

Friends, much like the author of Lamentations, I bet you will never forget your season of despair – like that time your husband left you, the time you lost your job, the time you couldn’t get pregnant, the time you grieved the loss of your friend, or the time you faced a ugly diagnosis. You won’t forget that. You will grieve that, and you have permission to mourn.

BUT, get this next part, friends….God’s Word is good. If you look closely, right in the middle of the grief and despair you will find a little nugget of hope amongst the rubble. Lamentations picks up here in verse 20, “Yet I still dare to hope...”

Did you catch that? Dare to hope in the middle of your mourning.

"Because of this – The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies begin fresh each morning. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him.’"(Lam. 3:19-24)

No matter what is going on around us, may we be bold enough to hope and choose to start each day remembering that His mercies are new each morning; His faithful love never ends.

There you have it: a dare to hope right in the middle of despair when it seems like there is no hope to be found. “Lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last.” (Lam. 3:29)

DARE TO HOPE, for He is faithful.

 Jesus,

Your children are mourning for reasons you know and are not surprised by. You are near to the broken-hearted. Oh Lord, may we find hope in each new day for you are faithful and good. You work all things out for our good.

Amen.

Begin Again

I ain't gonna lie: this teacher loves her some summer vacation. Time with my own kids, no bed times, trips to the beach. Days where the only thing on the To Do List is to breathe.

During summer I not only recover from the previous school year (Yes, I said, recover. Teaching is hard, y'all.), but I recharge my batteries for the upcoming school year. See, that's the greatest thing about being a teacher - there's always the chance to begin again. Because when I'm staying up late, beaching, and breathing I'm also planning. Planning ways I can make the next year even better. From bulletin boards to lesson plans to relationships, I reflect on ways I could be different.

What a blessing. Every year the clock is reset and I get to begin again.

There are places in all of our lives, teachers or not, where a reset button would be nice. Relationships, finances, attitudes, decisions. And in some ways these new beginnings are much easier to make. I begin again in August.

You can begin again today.

So what is it, friend? What part of your life do you need to reset? Return to start? Find the largest eraser possible and rub out?

Let today be the day you begin again.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"

God is faithful to make us into something entirely new and fresh when we come to Him in Jesus' Name. He is faithful to not only supply salvation, but to help you repair those areas of your life that haven't been working.

That's the beautiful thing about living life in Jesus' Name: it's never too late. As long as you have breath in your lungs and a beat in your chest, it's not too late to wipe the slate clean and start anew. Even if what you need to begin again is your relationship with Him. 

This time of year I think of my teacher friends who are retiring. I'm sure there's uncertainty in what their classroom-free lives will look like; a bittersweet goodbye to a long career. But, oh, the excitement in their fresh start, their renewal.

New beginnings are scary, but they carry with them the hope of something good, something different. Something better.

August is my restart date. My new, different, even better school year. But let today be yours.

Beloved, begin again.

Lord, may it be so.

Bright Hope for Tomorrow

This morning after church I stood outside with one of my best friends (Big shout out to Vicki!) as we watched our children play. Well, really we watched my two year old son make questionable play-time choices like eat discarded ice off of the sidewalk and throw rocks into the parking lot. Close by, watching his every move, was Vicki's two year old daughter, telling him with her facial expression, "Morgan, you are making terrible decisions with your life."

Vicki and I talked, as friends do, about kids, finances, and work. We agreed that the older we get the more we see how nothing in life is assured. In the past six months I have witnessed in the lives of my friends and family health scares, chronic illness diagnoses, the loss of babies, the loss of spouses. 2015 brought with it the realization that nothing in life is certain. Nothing is guaranteed.

And this, my friends, is a complete bummer.

Unless, you see things through an eternal lens.

Isaiah 65:17-19 tells us that when Jesus returns and comes to reign on earth all will be well. Better than well. All will be made perfect:

“Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore. Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness. Her people will be a source of joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard in it no more."

Wyatt's Bible, The Children's Storybook Bible, sums this verse up in one beautiful sentence:

"All things sad will become untrue."

Can you imagine it? Every physical or emotional hurt, disease, or ache of lost loved ones will be forgotten and in their place restoration will be given. Restoration of good health. Restoration of those lost. Pain gone. Children returned to empty arms.

Maybe this seems far-fetched. And maybe some would chalk it up to the stuff of fairy tales. But A.W. Tozer in his book, Pursing God, tells us this:

"God and the spiritual world are real. We can reckon upon them with as much assurance as we reckon upon the familiar world around us."

I want to believe in things I haven't seen. I want to hold fast to sweet promises made by a good God. And I want to share with others what this world so desperately needs: hope.

Strength for today. Bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with 10,000 beside. Great is His faithfulness, dear one!

In this world we will have trouble. Jesus Himself said so. But our hope and our faith are well placed in Him because, "Take heart!" He has overcome this world (John 16:33).

And all those sad things? He will literally make them disappear. Because in the new world in which I will live there will be no illness, no dying. Not even a bad day.

This seen world we live in now is made of flimsy paper at best. But that unseen world that is coming is made of rock, made to last forever.

My paper life here will be torn, it will be ripped, scribbled upon, and crumpled up.

My rock life there is solid, assured, and certain. It cannot be damaged, eroded, or weathered. All will be restored.

All sad things untrue.

Lord, may it be so.