Devotional - January 5, 2007

HOPE
One of the benefits of growing up in Maine was that I was only about 30 minutes from the ocean.  I remember one of the things we used to do at the beach was stand right at the waters edge, barefoot, and let the water wash up over our feet.  If you stand just in the right spot, the water will run over your feet up to your ankles and begin to pull the sand out from under you.  As the sand and water pulls away, it tickles your feet!  But if you begin to get too far out in the water, maybe up to your calf, or you may get just the right wave to hit the shore, the water can wash away enough sand to throw you off balance, even enough to knock you down.  I've done that more than once!  We'd be having a great time then we'd get too brave and almost get washed away with the current.  And let's face it, we're no match for the ocean!  
I have had times in my life when I have felt like the sand was being pulled out from beneath me and that I was going to be washed away with the tide of life.  When Matthew and I got married, I left my home, my family, the ministry I had been in for 11 years, my "northern" culture (the South may as well be a foreign country to us Yanks), and everybody I've ever known to answer the call of God on my life.  I married a guy I didn't know very well (how do you get to know someone over 1,000 miles away?), moved into a new ministry, was constantly around people I couldn't understand and who couldn't understand me (can anyone say ya'll?), and the list goes on.  Talk about the ground being knocked out from beneath you!  Sadly, I was not prepared for what the change entailed and my faith was shaken to the very core.   
But life is full of uncertainties and questions.  That's just, well, life.  No divine revelation there!  The thing is, everybody goes through stuff.  Behind every smiling face is a story.  My trial may seem trivial to you, but it was very real to me.  I have never felt so alone as I did during that time.  And no one really understood, because they weren't in my shoes.  But God has truly brought me through.  I have adjusted to my surroundings, and I could not ask for a better husband.  And most importantly, God has grown me through this situation.  Praise the Lord!  
Paul went through everything imaginable from shipwreck to imprisonment to beatings and yet he said, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).  Paul was a normal human being with the same thoughts and feelings like you and I, but he decided not to let his outrageous circumstances bring him down, but instead to hold on to the hope he had in Christ.  You can read on in the next verse to see that he always kept in mind that he had to die to himself and take on Christ's sufferings in order that Christ's life might come alive in him.  And that's our solution.  Remember what Christ went through for you.  Know that He truly does notice your situation when no one else does.  And hold on to hope.  Romans 5:3-5 says, "...but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed...."  Going through that trial in my life and even now, I have a hope in me that was born through trials, and I have to hold on to what is sometimes just a glimmer of hope to bring me through.    
"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.  It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not" (Lamentations 3:21-22).  Next time life tries to knock you down and you have no strength to carry on, remember this truth.  It is the mercy of God that we even have breath to breathe.  And he goes beyond that and gives us purpose in life, comfort in our time of need, and joy unspeakable and full of glory.  His compassion toward you is great.  Trust Him.  And don't just survive your trials; come through to the other side with a message of hope.  He's done it for me; He'll do it for you.    
The best is yet to come!
--Sonya