Cobblestones of Hope

Today’s stage on the Tour De France is by far the most brutal and the most odd. It’s raining and the roads are wet, the riders are nervous and there are cobble stone sections which is a hazard of note. Already the crashes have begun! My husband and I sit praying for the riders as the road gets tough and the tour gets hard. I smiled with delight to realise our faces are skewed up as we watch and we are praying for people we don’t know to overcome terrain they have voluntarily put themselves in, all to win a cycling race. Guess that’s the compassion of our heart and the sheer desire not to see anyone break bones and waste their life away.

As I was watching the stage (I took a break from it to share this post) I suddenly clicked – that’s right Father, that’s exactly how it is in life! Our walk of faith resembles a road, a bike race if you will. We are not up against anyone else but ourselves, hence the reason why Paul said “I die daily.” We wage the spiritual warfare not only with the dark forces out there but also with what is left of our fleshly natures and while we are cycling merrily along, the scenery and the road surfaces change. One day we are like a happy camper on our bicycle resembling a tourist in the middle of Amsterdam and then sometimes we may find ourselves on a very slippery road of cobblestones with the rain falling in our faces and the spray of the passing traffic fogging up our eyesight. This is life but the hard roads and the unkept surfaces don’t need to take us off our bikes and leave us with broken collarbones. The hard surfaces can strengthen us in the three areas Paul calls the most important, the areas of faith, hope and love.

I don’t write this to you without having travailed through the cobblestones just the past 2 weeks, but I have realised the blessing of “singing in the rain.” God can carry us through, if we only surrender to Him in trust and we carry the flame of hope within our hearts, a flame small at first but large enough to start a fire. I know that we each one have a different walk to walk and road to take and that’s the exciting part of life – that our roads are all so different. However, there will be times of sadness, sorrow, heartache, suffering or pain... here’s what God promises us though..

Jeremiah 31: 16 – 17

Thus says YHWH: “Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work..
And there is HOPE for your future..

Matthew 28:20

Behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. Amen!

What the world has taught us about hope stands in contrast to the biblical definition and understanding of hope. Hope in the Bible is all about trusting God despite what your eyes can see. Hope is all about knowing, not just intellectually but in your heart as well, that no matter what there is going to be a glorious end in sight despite the current circumstances. Hope is the belief in something that is unseen; it is the anchor that holds the soul tight even when the rain is falling. Hope is the belief that there is a light switch in the room and it will be turned on, even when you are shrouded in darkness and unsure of where to find it. Hope is not pressed upon us; it is given to us as a gift, it is endowed upon the tables of our hearts by Gods precious Hand. 

Hope brings joy; it replaces tears and feeds the spirit with Love. In whatever season you may find yourself friend, I pray that hope will be a part of your journey because inevitably while we watch the crashing riders slip in the rain, it will end because there is a finish line for today. In your circumstances the pain and sorrow will likewise end because at some point there is a finish line and the promise that while you traverse life’s realities – Yeshua our Messiah has already promised that He is riding it with you always even until the end of this current age, that is a promise without a time frame or expiration date. I can almost see the angels gathered around the throne watching some of Gods children riding a very slippery road in adversity. God can tell what they are thinking – they are nervous, is this child going to make it? God smiles “don’t worry – she is going to make it, I am with her, today’s adversity she has to get through because tomorrow it will be her victory!”
May hope in God and His Love be the wind that causes your legs to keep on going, keep on going, keep on going....

 I’m having Coffee For Your Heart with my friend Holley Gerth
And
Having Coffee with Winter