Hope! How blessed sounds that word.
That’s one of my favorite lines from a melodrama that a group of us performed at Wooddale Church years ago.
Love Rides the Rails follows the scheming and deceptive tricks of Simon Darkway (villain). He wants to control the Walker Valley, Pine Bush & Pacific Railroad. And to do that? He tries to take advantage of its owner, Widow Hopewell, and her beautiful daughter, Prudence (Heroine). The good guy in the story? Truman Pendennis. {At the end of the story Truman is tied to the tracks and Prudence saves him. Love that part. Go, Girlfriend!}
Anywaayy….
Prudence despairs when she learns of Simon’s treachery, and as she begins to faint, she holds her thin wrist on her pale forehead while hoping for Hope and whispers those words.
Been there. Done that.
Perhaps not quite as dramatically and with such flair as Prudence…but those words sure have been whispered from my lips.
You too?
Here’s what I’m learning…
Hope is not a wish. It is not a dream. It is more than a whisper and a precursor to fainting.
Hope means that we can expect with confidence.
We can cherish a desire with anticipation.
You see, as children of God, we can trust HIM.
Our Hope is in HIM.
We can trust in, wait for, look for, or desire something or someone, or expect something beneficial in the future.
Oh, my heart just wants to explode with gratitude!
We serve a big God who loves us and wants us to confidently wait for Him to meet us with just what we need in this very moment.
Do you read the promises in these words?…
Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. (Psalm 25:4-5)
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23)
There are lots of villians out there, threatening to take away our peace, our joy, what matters most to us.
So let us hold unswervingly to Hope.
HE who promises is faithful.
