Fighting for Hope, Waiting in Expectation

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)

“I come to You in the morning, oh Lord, I lay my requests before You, and I wait in expectation.” (Psalm 5:3)

Stress is unhealthy- for the mind, the body and the spirit. Scientists and physicians have been arguing this fact for years. It is why God requires all His people to take a day of rest each week. It is why Jesus tells His followers to come to Him to receive rest for our minds, bodies and souls. Stress, and the negative emotions that accompany it, should be avoided at all costs for anyone who desires to live a full, long, healthy life.

 

I read recently that negative emotions in a pregnant woman (stress, frustration, anger, bitterness, sadness, etc) release catecholamines into the body, which are essentially the body’s “fight or flight” hormones. These stress hormones signal the body to go into distress/survival mode, and blood is then diverted away from the less important body parts (e.g., the uterus) to the vital organs, such as the brain and heart. Less blood to the uterus means less blood and oxygen to the baby. So stress and negative emotions during pregnancy can actually have detrimental effects on the development- particularly brain development- of the unborn child. Prolonged stress can even lead to miscarriage or premature labor.

Similarly, stress in a laboring woman can divert blood and oxygen away from the baby, causing fetal distress, an emergency situation that usually leads to a surgical birth. This is one of the many reasons why women are so strongly encouraged to practice relaxation techniques during pregnancy to use during labor. Our bodies, and our babies, do best when not under stress.

 

I see now why my God has been teaching me about the importance of rest as I continue on through this pregnancy. My loving Father created my body and my mind and my spirit, and He knows what I need so much better than I do. So slowly, gently, He has been leading me to walk in peace and joy, to trust in Him, and to rejoice in hope.

But hope, I am finding, is not a one-time decision. It is not something we grasp once and then easily hold onto from then on. Hope in Christ is a daily choice that must be fought for- at times more forcefully than others.

Joyful Waiting

“Weeping may last for a night, but there is joy in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5b)

“My bravest are those who can anticipate the morning and feel in the night of sorrow that underlying  joy that tells of confident expectations of the morning.” (God Calling)

I’m sure I’ve written about this before- and I will probably write about it again- because it is something of which I must be reminded over and over again: Joyful waiting is not for the weak; it requires great courage and great strength.

 

I am a believer that one of the many ways God communicates with His people is through dreams. We see evidence of this in Scripture- God speaking, warning and revealing through dreams. But not many people value this form of heavenly communication today. Not many people pay attention to their dreams.

Something I have dreamt about often since I was a little girl is tornadoes. I don’t have a particular fear or fascination with tornadoes in real life, but they repeatedly show up while I sleep. More often than not I am the one in my dreams to spot the tornadoes in the sky and warn others of the impending danger. Then I am usually able to get everyone to safety, and all survive unharmed.

Tornadoes in dreams are believed to represent destruction or great danger, while a tornado sighting that leaves the dreamer unharmed signifies God’s protection in a day of calamity (Understanding the Dreams You Dream, Milligan). Last night I dreamt that I was riding in truck with a few other people down a dirt road. Someone else was driving and we were moving very fast. The sky was dark, and I suddenly noticed many tornadoes forming in right in front of us. The others didn’t seem to care and our truck continued moving quickly toward the danger. I then prayed confidently in the name of Jesus that the tornadoes would part, allowing us to pass safely. And they did, just in time. I thanked God in my dream for His provision and marveled at His power and faithfulness.

Why No Answer?

“Only in that earnest supplication, and the calm trust that results, does man learn Strength and gain Peace. Therefore, I have laid that incessant, persistent pleading as a duty upon My disciples.” (God Calling)

I come before the Lord yet again to pray, to ask Him to move as only He can. Never have I prayed for anything or anyone so earnestly or for so long. It has been years now. Years of praying the same prayer, asking my Father to provide in the same way. And still I wait.

There are moments- even full days- when I have become discouraged. Why no answer? Perhaps I should take matters into my own hands? But then I’ve tried that before with very little to show for it.

Love Is Not Easily Offended

“Love is not easily offended.” (1 Corinthians 13:5)

Have you ever been so filled with love for someone, so overcome with feelings of gratitude and appreciation for their presence in your life, so moved to affection that it seemed to literally spill over? But then that person, affected by a bad day or a bad mood or a bad meatball sandwich, didn’t quite return your sentiments as you would have hoped. And within a moment, all the love that was so welled up within your heart drains completely dry, leaving in its place only hurt and resentment and bitterness.

Love is not easily offended. 

I heard those words echo in my mind yesterday as my own well of love abruptly ran dry. Sure, only moments before I had been ready and willing to pour love onto this person, but now I felt slighted. Don’t I deserve something in return? Aren’t I entitled to receive at least a little something for myself? Shouldn’t this be a two-way street? 

But no. Love is not a two-way street; it is much more like a river. Love flows in one direction, always moving, always providing, never concerning itself with how or when it will be filled up again, but receiving the rains, when they do come, with simple, humble gratitude.

Love is not something that can be taken by force; it can only be given freely and graciously received.

Lord, fill us with Your love that we would spill over onto others. Make us into rivers of love, always pouring out and never expecting anything in return. And give us humble, grateful hearts and lips that thank you when the rains do come to fill and revive us again. 

Delayed Hope

“Delayed hope makes the heart sick, but fulfilled desire is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)

As I read this verse this morning, God’s Spirit reminded me that it is not the delay of the thing desired that makes the heart sick, as so many of us assume; it is the delay of hope. 

Discouragement comes only from the enemy. Hope comes only from Christ. Are we casting away all discouragement, dissatisfaction and despair, and grabbing ahold of hope? Or are we waiting for something to occur before we will finally be satisfied and give thanks? 

Quiet Confidence

“For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel has said: ‘You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence.’” (Isaiah 30:15)

Turn to Me. Rest in Me. Leave all in My hands and trust that I am faithful to hear and answer. 

That is what the Lord my God has been whispering again and again. To rest in Him because I trust in Him. Even when the waiting seems long and the answer seems a far way off. I am still to calm my heart and find strength in quiet confidence. And this confidence is not baseless, feel-good confidence, conjured up for the sake of appearances; it is true, deep-rooted confidence in the Father who loves me and the Savior who has never let me down.

True, it can be difficult to remain calm and keep a quiet heart when trials and challenges arise. Our reaction is often first to worry and then to try and act. But God says that we will be delivered by returning to Him and resting. We must first go to Him and allow Him to fill us with trust and confidence. Then He will lead us to act according to His will and good purposes. 

Turning Away from Unrest

“Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

“Poor world– teach it that there is only one cure for all its ills– Union with Me.” (God Calling)

My God has been showing me the importance of rest. Rest for the heart and rest for the spirit. And that any sign of unrest should be viewed as a warning, a spiritual red flag. Just as a headache is a warning to the body, revealing that something isn’t right, so is unrest a warning to the spirit. Such things should not be endured- and certainly not encouraged. Rather, we must do whatever we can to quickly and completely be rid of them, to find comfort and peace once again.

But so many of us do encourage unrest in our spirits. We go over and over that hurtful conversation in our minds; we voice our lack of satisfaction; we criticize and correct one another; we worry and dwell on what may or may not happen in the future. Rather than laying our spirits down to gently relieve the pressure and pain, we bang our heads against a wall to feel it all the more.

 

I cannot express to you strongly enough the danger of spiritual unrest and the importance of learning to guard against it. But why? Why should we be so on guard against any signs of unrest? Because Jesus is the God of rest. It is His great desire for us as His children to rest in Him– not sometimes or every once in a while, but always, as a learned habit and way of life. 

Exits Signs

“He leads me along paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:3)

Jesus said that the road to life is narrow and few find it. He never promised an easy way, but He promised to remain with us, to faithfully and lovingly lead.

I see God leading me down a road with many smaller paths shooting off in different directions. Like a long highway with frequent exits and flashing signs, there are countless opportunities each day to veer from God’s road, which leads to life, onto lesser roads, which lead only to destruction.

But there Christ is whispering:

Stay with Me, My love. Choose to walk with Me. I have many tasks prepared for you along the way, many gifts with which to bless you. I have secrets to share and wonders to reveal– all for you, only you. 

Desire first- always first- to simply be with Me. But come, walk with Me, and I will also make you like Me. 

Hearers, Doers, Followers

“Be doers of the word and nor hearers only, deceiving yourselves…” (James 1:22)

Jesus, speaking to a crowd of people, advised: “Do whatever they [the scribes and Pharisees] tell you and observe it. But don’t do what they do, because they don’t practice that they teach. …Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You lock up the kingdom of heaven from people. For you don’t go in, and you don’t allow those entering to go in” (Matthew 23:3, 13).

As I read these words yesterday, God convicted and pressed upon my heart. Do I practice what I teach? Or do I lock up the kingdom of heaven from those around me?

I wondered, then, what someone reading my blog might think about me, what picture they might draw up in their head about the person I must be in real life. Humble, kindhearted, gentle in spirit? From the words I write, one might assume such things. Unfortunately I know that much of the time this isn’t the case. I so often fail to practice what I teach.

Do Not Deny Them

“This is My command: love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)

Words from my Father:

Love and kindness. Love and kindness. These must be in all that you think, say and do. More and more, until they become a way of life for you– as mindless and effortless as breathing. It is the breath of God– My Spirit fruit– flowing out of you to feed the world. Deny them no part of Me, My love.

 

Deny them no part of Me.

If God is in us– living within us, moving within us, creating fruit within us– then everything that comes from us is an opportunity to share Him with others. Every word, every action, every touch, every act of service- even every thought. God making Himself known through us.

And God, of course, is love. So our first command, our primary task, is to love one another. To be kind and gentle and gracious toward one another. To do so is to give one another pieces of God.