{"id":16090,"date":"2013-12-05T00:30:20","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T06:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=16090"},"modified":"2013-12-04T23:24:07","modified_gmt":"2013-12-05T05:24:07","slug":"hope-lies-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/12\/05\/hope-lies-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Hope Lies in The Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Each week during the season of Advent, our blogs will focus on a central theme which is associated with the coming of Christ\u2014His Advent. \u00a0This week\u2019s theme is\u00a0HOPE<\/em><\/span>.
\nChristians throughout the world celebrate Advent. Some light candles or sing songs; some give gifts or \u00a0hang\u00a0wreaths. \u00a0All of these are simple joyous\u00a0ways of extending the celebration\u00a0of Jesus\u2019s coming beyond a mere 24 hours on\u00a0December 25.\u00a0Our prayer is that these devotionals\u00a0throughout\u00a0this season of Advent would help you to celebrate His first Coming and anticipate with HOPE<\/span> and joy His second Coming.<\/h4>\n

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *<\/span><\/p>\n

Hope.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Hope<\/span> is such a big word. A word not always seen, but felt; a word tied to our heart and our emotions; a word that means so much in so many situations.<\/p>\n

I hope I catch the red light. I hope 5pm comes quickly today. I hope my son’s basketball team wins. I hope we don\u2019t lose the house. I hope that the biopsy comes back negative.<\/p>\n

Hope<\/span> in Christ. Hope<\/span> in His second coming. Hope<\/span> that His will be done. Hope<\/span> that He knows how life will play out.<\/p>\n

Working with terminally ill hospice patients I have seen how deeply hope<\/span> and<\/strong> the loss<\/em> of hope<\/span> can impact a life; how it can impact so many people around us.<\/p>\n

I have seen hope<\/span> last until the last breath, I have seen hope<\/span> disappear with a misplaced word or a misunderstood action.<\/p>\n

I know what it feels like to feel like there is no hope<\/span>; I know what it feels like to have that hope<\/span> renewed.<\/p>\n

This time of year hope<\/span> seems to flow freely, the good nature in humans seems to bubble over, miracles are easier to see, it\u2019s easier to be kind to those in need, it\u2019s easy to see and have hope<\/span> and it is easier to fuel the hope<\/span> of others.<\/p>\n

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Jeremiah 29:11\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace.<\/p>\n

Psalm 29:11\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

God has desired to give us hope<\/span> since the very beginning, He reinforced that hope<\/span> when He sent His Son to be born for us and when He gave His Son to die for us. \u00a0His hope<\/span> gives us strength and His hope<\/span> gives us peace.<\/p>\n

This is the dictionary definition<\/span> of hope<\/em><\/span>: “to cherish a desire with anticipation; to desire with expectation of obtainment; to expect with confidence.” \u00a0Consider these words as the holiday season swirls around us: cherish, desire, anticipation, expectation, confidence.<\/p>\n

Here is another definition that I only partly agree with: “to want something to happen or be true, and think<\/em> that it could happen or be true.”<\/p>\n

The word I want to change is \u201cthink;<\/em>\u201d we don\u2019t have to think<\/em> it is true or that it can happen, because we know<\/strong> it is true. We know what is promised to us because He has written it in His word and in our hearts. Our hope is a \u201cknow<\/em>\u201d not a \u201cthink.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

This season think about what hope<\/span> means to you, and about where your<\/strong> hope<\/span> lies. There are numerous Scriptures about hope…<\/span>write some down and reflect on them through the day, on days where your hope<\/span> feels strong and<\/strong> on days when it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank You, Father, for the hope that gets us through the day, the situations, the good times and the difficult times. \u00a0Thank You for the hope that Your word gives us to stand on at all times. We know that Your will is always going to be done, and that we can live our lives with this undying hope because Your promises are true. \u00a0In You, Lord, our hope lies. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Each week during the season of Advent, our blogs will focus on a central theme which is associated with the coming of Christ\u2014His Advent. \u00a0This week\u2019s theme is\u00a0HOPE. Christians throughout the world celebrate Advent. Some light candles or sing songs; some give gifts or \u00a0hang\u00a0wreaths. \u00a0All of these are simple joyous\u00a0ways of extending the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[3173,1287,425,4702,551,4700,4703,4699,3174,1075,4701],"class_list":["post-16090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-daily-devotional","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-his-word-gives-us-hope","tag-jeremiah-2911","tag-our-hope-is-in-god","tag-our-hope-lies-in-the-lord","tag-psalm-2911","tag-seeking-him-devotional","tag-tonya-ellison","tag-trust-in-hope","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-4bw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16090"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16094,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16090\/revisions\/16094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}