If only I had a new car.

Or a new job, new house, new boss, new clothes, new school.

If only…

It is our human nature to want more, the new, the improved, the better-than-I-have-it-now. We were created that way. Perhaps Augustine said it best, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

When we pursue earthly things, we remain thirsty. Day after day, we maintain the same pace getting the same results while only hoping for an end to the mundane.

What if we were told we didn't have to work so hard at achieving status in things but instead were given Someone we could draw from every single waking moment of our lives? 

Do you remember the account of the Samaritan woman who came to the well in the heat of the day to avoid the judgmental glances of others?

Jesus could have had mercy on her and made her life easier by showing His servant’s heart and dug a well near her home. But He didn't because He knows this world is temporary. We need to tap into Him in our everyday so the well of eternity springs up in our souls and overflows into our daily lives and we can be who He calls us to be.

Perhaps God has you waiting and you find yourself tired and useless and wondering how can something old or familiar become new with purpose? Hear my heart my friend, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that can bring LIFE into your everyday. He knows you thirst and He has plans to prosper you.

No matter if you’re planning to travel the world to be a missionary or you go to work to pay the bills or are knee deep in dirty dishes and laundry, draw from Him. His well is deep. He is the better-than-I-have-it-now. He is the A-Z of every single breath of every single day.

Cast off the “if only” and put on a garment of praise. Hold your head up high and hear Him exclaim over you, “Behold, I make all things new”

This morning a family very dear to us buried their son, brother, husband, father, uncle, and friend. Kent Henry was 49. He would have been 50 at the end of next month. He will be spending that birthday with his father, Owen, and with their Father. 

The officiating minister, Darrel Brandon, echoed the sentiments we all shared--it’s not fair, and 49 years is not long enough.

 But maybe, he said, maybe it is long enough.

It’s long enough to make a lot of friends. It’s long enough to make beautiful cabinetry and other art from wood. It’s long enough to restore some antique tractors. It’s long enough to leave a legacy of service, care and education through A.B.A.T.E and 4-H. It’s long enough to continue the line of the good Henry name. It’s long enough to have a good marriage with his wife Penny (although we all agree that three years sure doesn’t feel like enough). It’s long enough when you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

His words shifted my whole perspective. It was as though I had stepped out from under the funeral home’s weather-protective gazebo and into the sunshine and blue sky (and I soon proceeded to do just that). I noticed something I had missed before.

Hope.

I think of Hope as this great big concept, like Faith and Love, and it is. But today I learned yet again that hope can be a kernel, a sparkle, a grain of sand. Hope is with us the entire time but often we are not looking the right way, in the right place, to the right One.

Hope doesn't make everything all better, but it does make everything more bearable. And when life is pain, sorrow, insanity, and instability, the smallest drop of Hope can make a huge difference, and lead us to the One in whom our hope is sure. (Heb 6:19)

     12, 440. It’s mentioned that many times in the Bible. Must be important. It’s first mentioned in Ruth chapter one after Naomi’s sons were killed. “If I should say I have hope (expectation),” she told her daughters-in-law after her sons were killed in battle. (She couldn’t give them new husbands.)

            Next, a confession is made to Ezra (whose name means ‘help’) in 10:2. “We have trespassed against our God, and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope in Israel in spite of this.” The meaning here is a confidence, a gathering together—strength in numbers.

            And, most of us are familiar with the phrase, “He/she has the patience of Job.” Yet in chapter 6:11, Job answers his friend by stating, “What strength do I have, that I should hope?” Meaning: wait; be patient.

            When we skip forward to Jeremiah 17, we read a favorite in verse 7: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD.” Awe: a refuge, security, and confidence.

            Finally, though, many of us find ourselves lamenting over seemingly, hopeless situations that surround us in this broken world of one blow after another. Still, in the midst of “grievously waiting,” Jeremiah, who cried out in deep despair, was able to say: “It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”

            Helping Other People Expect.

            I leave you with an all time favorite from Isaiah: “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you," (43:2) "But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength." (40:31)

I am exhausted.  Maybe you are too? When we reach this level of fatigue we can get cranky and it’s not only our body that feels the stress but our families can taste the bitterness in the air. We can be downright sour.

The important thing for me to remember is, (even though I may have had every reason to be annoyed by whomever is doing the disrespecting), I need to get a handle on it. Can you imagine if God snapped at us? “I’m too tired to deal with you today. I really have had it with your lack of appreciation for all I have done.”

Yikes.

That whole forgive-me-as-I-forgive-others come to mind!

When I find myself drowning in perceived or very real stressors I can begin to feel hopeless, so I force myself to take a break and worship God. I use a list Stormie Omartian put together in her book The Prayer That Changes Everything.  Let me share it with you.

I have hope because…

Because He is. He is here with me. He is there with you. He is everything I have ever needed, or will need. He is strong. He is patient. He is understanding. He is just. He is merciful. He is compassionate. He is wise. He is yours. He is mine. The list goes on and on. Praise Him because He is. Period.

There is no better medicine for a tired bitter heart than to recognize the One who sees it and understands why. 

You’re stuck. The walls of safety caved in. Your spouse has cancer; your teenage is cutting; your boss just laid you off. Your mind tells you to get out of bed; your heart can’t beat just yet. Friends say, “Remember, there’s always hope.” Really? Why can’t I feel it? You ask aimlessly.

This week the gals at dailyfastfuel will reflect on what life in Christ has taught us about Hope. Why do we need it? How have we seen it work in our lives? Where does it come from?

It’s not a feeling (happiness); it’s not a given (forced); but it is a Person, “For You are my Hope, O Lord God . . . By You I have been upheld from my birth.” (Psalm 72: 5&6)

“Without vision my people perish.” Proverbs 29:18

            “What is your big dream for this coming year?” We asked our readers. Funny, I asked something similar during one of my holiday dinners. While I had grandiose plans, a co-worker simply said, “I hope to get through the second year of my mother’s death and all the decisions surrounding the home on the coast she left me.” Another just wanted to hang onto his job for the year. I understand their hope-frozen state of mind.

            When my baby daughter was in the hospital dying from cancer, a friend came to visit. During lunch she had the nerve to ask, “What is your vision for the future? What are your dreams?” All I could think was, How can you ask me such a thing; all I can think of is my family? Yet, it was just the prescription I needed: focus on something beyond the temporary roadblock.

            Without Christ, the hope of glory, I’m near-sighted. With Him, there is no dream too big, nor too small. My big 2014 dream is physical in nature: walk the Santiago pilgrimage trek from southern France to the St. James cathedral on the coast of Spain with my eldest brother. Not for religious reasons but for relationship. I want to get to know my brother better. I also get to know the heart of the seekers and the natives we meet along the way. 

            Spiritual, I want to embrace a deeper level of who my Master Creator is. I want to experience another one of God’s European counties—the dawns and dusts of his rising and setting sun. I want to taste the fruit of the Spanish vineyards, walk the dusty roads of past and present all the while praying and pouring out what God equips me to release. I want to be his secret missionary interceding for all I see and meet.

            No matter what the dream—fun, small, huge or hard—I lean on the verse from Luke: “Nothing is impossible for God.”

Being ready for Christmas can be a challenge, even to a mature Christian. The hardest part of the season for me is not the pressure retailers put on our family or feeling the need to go here and there or go to yet one more get together. It’s not the decorations or the shopping or the gift wrapping or even the average weight gain.  (Yikes)  For me the challenge is the “after” Christmas when presents have been unwrapped and social media is full of who-can-put-Christmas-away-the-fastest. It pains me to see how much joy people have to “finally put away the clutter” or threaten to “scream if one more Christmas song is played”.

Why? Because I look forward to Christmas for its simplicity and complexity.  Not that others don’t, but I long to savor and drink in the moments of quiet reflection, long after the calendar gives permission. I love the reminder our tree gives us of traditions adopted by faith and adapted by families. For me, it’s difficult to understand why others don’t see it that way. But I have to remind myself that Christmas isn’t about the decorations or the egg nog or the presents.  Christmas is not IN those things.

Yes, just like in Whoville, Christmas trees and decorations and presents can be cleaned up and whisked away but that doesn’t mean something…or Someone has been taken from me.

Ultimately, Christmas entered this world through the most basic and primal of all human experiences – childbirth.  Christmas was born just like you and me, innocent and helpless wrapped in swaddling clothes.  There is nothing simpler than a baby because a baby brings hope and visions of a better tomorrow.  And the baby whose birth we celebrate is God himself, the author of Hope, the Promise Keeper of better tomorrows.  

No lit up Christmas tree can ever give me that.

This Christmas, after everything is cleaned and put away, try to take some time to reflect on the greatest story ever told. Remember the wooden trough our Lord laid in was just the beginning.     

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.

I would consider myself as romantic as most ladies. I love a good Austen, Green Gables, Downton Abbey-a-thon, like so many.  This week I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the little love stories unfolding on the Daily Fast Fuel and how the Lord has weaved His hand into each of my sisters' stories. As I read them, I’m discovering more about how beautiful it is when heaven invades your love story.  Admittedly, I think hearing these stories breeds such hope for me in this season of singleness- because each story is so different, so varied.  I am reminded how love can be humorous, constant, patient, clear and mysterious.  I’m encouraged that there is no formula or pattern to try to follow to get to the altar – God’s got his own journey for each of us. It releases grace over me – my great weapon when the lies of “you missed your chance, and you’re not enough” creep into the camp. 

No little lies, I’m afraid you’re wrong. 

You just don’t know my story yet. 

You’ve never seen anything like it- no one has.

Because there is only One who knows how this story goes.

You have found me in the prequel to my happily ever after.  God’s been working on an amazing backstory – a beautiful backdrop. 

Here in the prequel He is teaching me of love, of Himself, of who I am.

Little lies, I am not broken or unwanted.

I am simply in the midst of the foundation and the creation of all that is to come.

At any moment the prequel might come to an end, and I will marvel at the foundation God has built  in this season. I will delight in the depth and richness of the backstory spent falling in love with the One who first loved me. May the Lord grant hope and peace, to those who join me in the prequel season.

To the beauty of the next chapter.

“Love is patient." - 1 Corinthians 13:4