⭐️ I was hoping to actually mail some Christmas cards out this year, but that didn’t happen yet and Christmas Eve is tomorrow so it is probably not going to happen! So consider this my Christmas card! ⭐️
At the start of 2023, God clearly showed me what my word of the year would be. I remember right where I was when I knew. I had just stepped into the room and I looked I. The mirror and thought/prayed, “God, I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t know if I’m strong enough.” The words of the old hymn filled my head, “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.” In that moment, God reminded me that He would give me the strength I needed for that day, that moment, and He would give me HOPE for tomorrow. After all “the best is yet to come.”
And that was my word for 2023: HOPE
I recently saw the lyrics of another song, a Christmas song. It seemed a fitting way to close out the word, bookended by song lyrics.
“A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.”
Sometimes it is hard to have hope. We are indeed a weary world. There are many things swirling around us, many dark, hard things. Life is hard. BUT God is good, so good.
In the midst of the challenges and trials of life, we are called to hold on to hope.
“we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize (“hold fast to” ESV) the hope set before us. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure...”
Hebrews 6:18-19 CSB
This verse is talking about God’s promises and how He doesn’t lie and that we can indeed hold on to hope.
There are so many scriptures that talk about hope, so many that I can’t begin to share them all here! But this next verse touches on the same sentiment as the song:
“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation”
Psalm 42:5 ESV
We need to put our hope in Him. Placed anywhere else and it is false hope, or at the very least, hope that will leave us disappointed. But we can put our hope in Him. He is our salvation. And He is to be praised!
At the end of the day, I would rather live with hope in the midst of life. We may have those weary days. We will very likely have disappointments, but our God is a God of hope! And I will leave you with this blessing from scripture:
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Romans 15:13 ESV
#ChristmasCard #WordOfTheYear #Hope
#MerryChristmas #HappyNewYear
