A few weeks ago, my pastor was preaching about faith and belief in what God can do and it got me to thinking about hope. How we hope for things in this life, for hearts desires to come true. How despite circumstances, we still hope, despite the odds, despite the unlikely chance of something coming to pass, we still hope it will happen because God IS ABLE.
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BUT, what about REALITY???
The truth is that sometimes we don't always get our every heart's desire. Sometimes really hard things happen to God's people. Reality is that sometimes-loved ones do end up dying young. Reality is that accidents happen. Reality is that cancer is real. Reality is that babies are stillborn. Reality is that sometimes people lose their job. Reality is that parents' babies die. Reality is that children's parents die. Reality is that spouses die. Reality is that death is real. Reality is that some people never do get healed from infertility. Reality is that ABUSE is happens. Reality is that broken homes are very real. Reality is that broken hearts happen. Reality is that dreams get shattered.
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WE HOPE-but there is still REALITY!!!
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I love to dream of wonderful things happening. I'm that crazy girl that dreams about it raining fluffy puppies. I have a wild imagination that can take me and anyone I'm with anywhere. I take people on an adventure through my words spoken or written. BUT I also know REALITY.
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I know what it's like to think all my dreams are FINALLY coming true but everything falls apart. AND I know what it's like to wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and WAIT AGAIN and to think that maybe, just maybe, after years and years of being best friends with someone, FINALLY they're going to go for you and you and FINALLY everything is coming together BUT instead that person chooses to backslide-THAT'S REALITY!
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It's not just a matter of not believing. It's knowing how many times before you've believed and still been wrong. Reality rages against hope. Reality mocks hope in the face. Reality says your little brother just died. Reality says remember what happened before? Reality says, every other time has been a failure. Reality says every other time you believed and where did that get you? Reality says where has all your prayers gotten you?
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AND yet I still HOPE!!! I still believe even when doubt whispers facts of reality in my ears. Maaaaaaaaaaybe one day you will get married buuuuuuuuuut your already 40, even if you do get married, you think you're going to have a baby? You still want to be a mom? Even if you have a baby RIGHT NOW, you'll be 60 by the time your baby is an adult, you want that? And the answer is STILL YES.
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Hope and Reality are on opposite sides of the globe of my life. What is that place between the two??? What's the place in the middle of living in reality, yet still hoping but also not living in your own fantasy world of make believe???
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What is the place between HOPE AND REALITY???
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I pondered this thought in my mind for several days, then it hit me...
The place between hope and reality is- TRUSTING IN GOD! Despite everything that happens, we can still trust in God. He said I know that thoughts that I think toward you, not to harm you, but to give you an expected end. God has GOOD in store for us even if it hurts. There are times in my life that I have been so hurt, so disappointed, that I have literally felt a spirit if cynicism trying to take over my heart BUT GOD told me I could still trust Him.
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I have refused to become a cynic without hope. I would rather have a soft heart that is disappointed over and over again, than a hardened cynical heart that is never disappointed because it dares not to hope. Hope is found in our brokenness when we take the road of trust.
"The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart..." (Psalm 34:18)
Why is hope found in the middle of brokenness? Because GOD IS there and where God is, THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE!!!
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Trusting in God is that place between hope and reality, it's that place in between our dreams and God's dreams for us. Trusting in God is the surrendering of our will to His will. We don't know what the future holds, but we can trust in God. We can hope and know that if we're disappointed again, that God is still in control, and we can trust Him. God knows what He is doing. We can trust Him.
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We can't see the future but when we trust God, we show God that our ultimate hope is in Him. "...Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colassians 1:27) At the end of our lives, I don't believe our last thought will be aww man, I wish i had done things my own way. We can trust God because the outcome of fulfilling His will in our lives will always be greater than the fulfilling of our own will. God's will for our lives will not leave us disappointed in the end. God's ending will always leave us astounded. When we take the road of trust, our hope will become our reality.
"but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.." (Romans 824-25)
♥Mary Frances :)
