Standing where hope can be found

Today I'm thinking about God's goodness, even though my brain and body are a tad tired right now.  I've been to two hospitals in two days and will be at another one tomorrow.  Tomorrow isn't a visitation for someone in church or community though.  Tomorrow is a shoulder nerve surgery for my husband.  

I enjoy being able to visit folks in the hospitals.  It is always a blessing to be able to visit with folks, to talk, to sit, to be in silence, to pray.   There is something sacred and holy about that time of being with folks in the hospital.  I consider it to be a special part of ministry.  I always have.

Today in a meeting I was reminded to focus on what God IS doing, how God IS working, where God IS moving.

What is God doing?  How is God working?  Where is God moving?

God continues to surprise me, work through worship services and meetings to bless and encourage me, and God is moving in and through me.... even if I don't always see it.

Yesterday morning was week 3 in a stewardship series on "Our Covenant Oath-- Gifts".   Of all the Sunday mornings to forget to take the weekly check in, it was yesterday.  That got worked into the sermon.  But that's not what I wanted to share.

The opening song was a song I hadn't heard before (or if I had, it didn't register like it did yesterday) by Laura Daigle, "O, Lord".

That song touched my soul and resonated within me unexpectedly.  I picked up my pen and bulletin and jotted down one of the lines: "I will stand my ground where hope can be found."

Here are the lyrics to the song:

Whoa...

Though times it seems
Like I'm coming undone
This walk can often feel lonely
No matter what until this race is won
I will stand my ground where hope can be found
I will stand my ground where hope can be found

Oh, O'Lord O'Lord I know You hear my cry
Your love is lifting me above all the lies
No matter what I face this I know in time
You'll take all that is wrong and make it right
You'll take all that is wrong and make it right

Whoa...

Your strength is found
At the end of my road
Your grace it reaches to the hurting
Still through the tears and the questioning why
I will stand my ground where hope can be found!
I will stand my ground where hope can be found!

Oh, O'Lord O'Lord I know You hear my cry
Your love is lifting me above all the lies
No matter…

I had several meetings yesterday, two of them church-related.

I was lifted up at both of the meetings.  The Scripture at the first meeting touched me particularly. The leader read portions of 2 Corinthians 4 from The Message (1-4, 7-12, 16-18).  I decided to post the entire chapter:

1-2 Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we’re not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don’t maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don’t twist God’s Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God.

3-4 If our Message is obscure to anyone, it’s not because we’re holding back in any way. No, it’s because these other people are looking or going the wrong way and refuse to give it serious attention. All they have eyes for is the fashionable god of darkness. They think he can give them what they want, and that they won’t have to bother believing a Truth they can’t see. They’re stone-blind to the dayspring brightness of the Message that shines with Christ, who gives us the best picture of God we’ll ever get.

5-6 Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we’re proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.

7-12 If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!

13-15 We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!

16-18 So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

Why did this resonate within me?  Perspective.  It reminded me to not give up, to keep on keeping on, to keep on taking risks, that on the inside God is making new life, that God's grace is unfolding.

Yes, there are hard times.  There are challenges, trials, difficulties-- of all shapes and sizes.  But, yet, even so-- God is working.  God is not done working in me or through me.  God will work through this broken and imperfect vessel.  I am grateful for the continual growth and learning opportunities, that I am not the same follower of Christ that I was 5 to 10 to 15 years ago, that God has taught me so much about grace over the years.  But I still have so much to learn.

I continue to recognize the need for silence and solitude, for time apart, for prayer, for study, for openness to the Holy Spirit.

As the breeze blows this afternoon through the leaves, I pray for a refreshing of the breath of God in me.

I don't know what it is for you in your life, on your journey that may be difficult right now.  Whatever it may be, it is my hope that there is some encouragement here from the song, from the Scripture, or even from Creation-- be it a breeze, the song of a bird, the gurgling of water... that something helps you hang on.

May the Light shine in and through the darkness so that hope can be found.

Blessings on your journey,

Debra