Hope conquers~

The world weighs heave on my heart these days. No different from the rest of you, but at the same time, so particular. My prayer requests run the gambit, as I’m sure yours do, too. We’re all in this world together.

   I’ve been waking up lately to a pall, a sadness. But then God steps in, which of course is grace, and I start listing gratitudes; and with that, I don’t feel as alone or in such despair. Hope balances the heaviness of the world; no, hope conquers the heaviness. With hope God remains present to me.

      I hate to admit this, but without suffering I wouldn’t know God. Of course, I’d rather skip all of that and just hang out in heaven. I’d rather pass over all that Jesus went through and fast forward to the Ascension. But that’s not the way it works; it is through suffering and death that despair and helplessness lose their sting. That’s just the way it works, the way God works. As the song goes, ‘You can’t have one without the other.’

       With those situations that seem too much to bear, my only hope comes when I remember how Jesus got through it, always starting with gratitude. That’s a good way for me to start, too.

---