Secret Sanctuary

Come along, friends.  Off to my sanctuary. 

As a daughter of a geologist  (lover of rocks) my first inclination is to take you to the mountains.  Nothing seems to speak peace to me like magnificent peaks, crystal lakes, unrelenting waterfalls, and serene trails.  This God-crafted sanctuary has always washed the hurry of life away.

But today, I am not leading you to my oldest and most beloved haven.  I have discovered another rather astounding refuge. It’s somewhat subtle, though, almost hidden – easy to miss. Secret, you might even say.  At least it was for me.

My new sanctuary of choice?

Hope.

For the past several months I’ve struggled with hopelessness. Work fueled stress, challenges, and exhaustion.  Life was peppered with thwarted dreams and unmet expectations.  Even when I would run to the refuge of a good mountain scape, rest was fleeting.  In an effort to find a sanctuary again, I began seeking community – I needed to be connecting with someone other than my lesson plans. This pursual landed me in a great home group with my church.

A few weeks ago at my group, we were talking about living with hope and expecting God and His goodness to show up everyday.  I had the group pray for me as I was struggling to expect God’s goodness in my everyday life.  They reminded me of His promise:

“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!” Psalm 27:13

After that, when I got in the car every morning I made a concerted effort to expect God’s goodness.  “Today, is going to be amazing, “ I’d tell myself.  “God is going to show up with His love and kindness and I can’t wait to see how He does it today.”

I set my heart to hope in Him.  God’s word says that hope does not disappoint (Romans 5:5), and only when we put off hoping is our heart made sick (Proverbs 13:12). 

I rejoice in hope, because the last few weeks have been a season of entering into His rest like never before – and hope was the key.  As I set my mind to expect God to be good, my eyes began to catch His goodness showing up all around me day after day. I’ve experienced huge breakthrough in my class and in my heart and enjoy my drive to work now, wondering how my King is going to love on me today. 

Today’s encouragement -rejoice in Hope, and enter His rest – it’s a sanctuary that will meet you anywhere.