Against All Hope, We Have Hope

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’  Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.  Yet he did not waver in unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He promised.”

 – Romans 4:18-21

            God will do what He has promised. Against all odds we have two words we can always say, “But God.”  Nothing is impossible with Him, instead all things are possible through Him.

            When I read these verses in my morning devotional time, it was verse eighteen that really stood out to me.  It says, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed…”  There was no hope, I do not know one person who would say “Yea Abraham! No worries, you can totally have a child!” No.  It goes against everything logical, it is physically “impossible.”  If a couple came to the church and asked for prayer, because they wanted a child, but they were in their nineties, people would probably, very nicely, explain to them how this is never going to happen.

            Yet, even though there was no hope, it says that Abraham did not waver in unbelief, his faith was not shaken.  Instead, his faith was strengthened and he was fully convinced that God would do what He had promised.  There was no doubt in his mind, he put all his hope in God, not in what man said was logical or possible. Wow.  Whenever I read about Abraham I am so encouraged by his amazing faith in the One he followed.  God said go, Abraham went.  God said multiply, Abraham believed.  God said sacrifice, Abraham obeyed. 

            God kept His promise to Abraham and Abraham had one son.  Then God told him to offer his only son as a sacrifice, Abraham took the steps of obedience until God held back his hand.  His only son, the only way that Abraham could become the father of a great nation (as God had promised), and we see Abraham willing to even give that up for God.  All of Abrahams hope was in the Lord.  Even when there was no hope, Abrahams faith was strengthened, he gave all the glory to God, because he knew that it is only through God’s power that anything righteous can be possible.

Abraham knew that he was close to death, he was not naive to the facts of life, but he was also not naive of the awesome power of God.  Abraham knew how big his God is, I pray that I too will grow and have the faith of Abraham.  We cannot focus on our ability, surroundings or knowledge, because we will only become discouraged by what this world has to offer.  Instead we need to be like Abraham, even when there is no hope, we will hope.  Because we know the One who holds all things together, we know the author and finisher of time.  

What Do We Put Our Hope In?

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?" - Matthew 6:26

While we were working at the church this morning, Don Victor noticed that there was a bird laying on the ground.  He picked it up and gentle placed it into my hands, where it simply sat looking around and staring at me.  It didn't seem frightened at all, it was completely content to rest in my hand.  I had no idea if the bird was hurt or if it could fly, so I just brushed it's feathers with the tip of my finger and kept softly talking to it.  Just as I was thinking that I should put the bird down somewhere, it suddenly took off flying. The entire time this bird had the ability to go, to fly and yet it was content to simply rest in my hands.

As I was holding this bird Matthew 6 kept running through my head.  "Are you not much more valuable then they?"  In Matthew 6:33-34 it says, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own."  These are verses that most people in the Church are all very familiar with, but I think they are some of the hardest verses to put 100% of our trust in.  Jesus is telling us to let go of all our worries, to rest completely in His hands.  He is promising to provide for us, we are His children whom He loves. He is telling us to keep our eyes focused on Him, to be distracted by Him and Him alone.

We read these verses and we feel so encouraged and so loved by our Savior who is telling us to rest in Him.  To not think about tomorrow, but to Press On, because He has the whole world in His hands.  It is something that is so easy to read, to teach and to say we totally believe.  But then this funny thing called life hits and it can hit us hard sometimes.  That is when we are stretched, when God tests our faith to see if we are truly standing on Him, our unshakable rock.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to Sarah - she was here for three and a half weeks working with us - and we were talking about Gods plan.  Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." So often God's plans are not exactly what we expected them to be.  There are glitches, storms, falls and confusion. It is so easy to get worried, confused and scared that things will end up staying in darkness and that there will never be any rest or light.  Yet, God tells us to rest in Him.  To lean not on our own understanding, but to rest completely in Him and let Him direct our path.  We both agreed that it is such an amazing comfort to know that everything happens for a reason and that God works everything out for His glory.  Yes, things get hard and we can be so confused, but as long as we nestle in His hands and trust that He knows exactly what we need and exactly what time we need it, then we can have hope.  With that hope, through faith, we can have joy and with God's strength (just like this little bird) we can fly.  God takes care of all of His creation, they are not left wanting, we cannot forget His words "Are you not much more valuable than they?"  

My team and some of our work, God knows exactly what we need :)

My teammate and Eddy, it's the group!

Washing the Chairs for Church,

trying to get them to once again be white :) 

One of the main moments we felt like we were truly becoming one with Costa Rica.
We Burned all the trash :D 

Cats and mice! The kids love this game so much!

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." - Colossians 3:23-24

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." - Colossians 3:17

Some Of My Devo Time Here In Costa :)

Love, a word that has always been so dear to my heart, I word I thought I kinda understood.  But, it is a word that I don’t think I will ever fully understand.  I might know the dictionary definition, I might know the Corinthian definition, but as life goes on I am learning more and more of what Love truly means.  1 John 4:10 “And this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Yea, I memorized this verse in training, I can say it by heart, but do I truly – with all I am – understand this use of the word Love? Not even close.  This, the greatest form of love, is so close and still so foreign to me.  

I say I love you to my parents, brothers, family, friends, my class of IGNITE,  and to my Savior.  But, do my actions follow my words, are they a close second, do I even know what actions I should take?  How naive of me to think that I could actually have an understanding of this vast word love? Jesus tells us to love our enemies and do good to those who hurt you.  He asks us to look through His eyes, with a heavenly perspective.  He does not wish us to look through our own lenses that are so often scuffed and dirty.   I want to grow in Christ’s love.  The Bible says they will know you by your love for one another, for Christ is our example, we are called to love as He loves. Wow! How then should our love look?  That is truly insane, utterly insane, if you think about it. 

“God will not judge us according to how much we endured, but how much we could love.  The Christians who suffer for their faith in prison could love, I am a witness that they could both love God and man.”

– Underground Christian, prisoner.

“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so some people have entertained angels without even knowing it.” – Hebrews 13:2

To all men my love is to look like Christ’s.  The world’s standard and God’s standard of love is so far apart and different.  Being in the middle is not what I am called to, I am not to be luke warm.  Search me oh God and know my heart, try me and know my ways, teach me how to love like You, for I cannot love on my own as You have loved me. 

Let Go and Let God

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with the carousing, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life, and that day will close in on you suddenly like a trap.” – Luke 21:34

                Over and over again during training we were reminded that while on the field, and for the rest of our lives, our first mission fields are ourselves.  After ourselves comes our team, the people that God has put together to work for His glory.  When focused on these two things, when one is constantly mindful of keeping Christ the center, running their race well and not becoming stagnant, then his or her work on the mission field God will bless.  How can one pour out on people, if they themselves are empty?  I read this verse in my devotions the day after I had started to feel a little weighed down with the anxieties of the world (God always knows what we need).  It can be so easy to worry about things and, especially for me, people that we care about.  We can’t see into the future and many times our hands are tied and we are incapable of doing anything.   Yet God continues to bring me back to Matthew 6:33-34, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

                We so easily can begin to slip into worry and anxiety.  But, by doing this we are taking our eyes off the Author of Life and becoming distracted by the world.  Concern and worry are two different things, and concern should bring us to our knees and bring us to the cross so that we can lay it down at the feet of our Creator.  This is something that God has been continually showing me, and exactly how much I need to completely rest in Him.  He knows exactly what I need and what those around me need.  If I seek Him first in all that I do, if I don’t get distracted by the worries of this world, but instead I am distracted by Jesus, then I will know that I am in His perfect will.  I can do nothing to further His Kingdom by my own strength, and I can never change someone’s heart.  I need to lean not on my own understanding, but trust in Him with all, key word, all of my heart, and fully allow Him to direct my path.  Peace and Joy are two of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, showing that we are filled with Him, anxiety is the opposite of these two things.  I want to be distracted by Jesus. 

First Week of working with the kids has been amazing!  I know that I was only home for ten days, but I truly missed being jumped by some adorable children.  God is so good all the time.   

Happy Easter From Costa Rica!!! 

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." - Hebrews 4:14-16