HOPE: Continue In Your Journey
HOPE … this morning an unexplained and unexpected hope flooded my soul. Honestly, I’m not even sure what it’s about or the reason it showed up in such proportions. It just welled up within me. There really is no reason for it to abide in my heart, and yet, here it is penetrating my thoughts for the day.
And here is an important aspect of being in a community of people …. it now involves you because you are in this mailing list and reading this newsletter.
HOPE is contagious and spreads from person to person as we share it with those around us. Yes, we can horde it to ourselves and not let anyone else in on it, but that is such a waste to do so. It seems to me hope, by nature, was meant to be shared. Yeah, it’s a shared experience and moves from one person to another as we exchange our gifts of love and appreciation or our words of invitation, encouragement, and challenge.
It is such a difficult thing to communicate what happened within me today; and yet, I feel compelled to try. It just needs to be given away and not held to myself. You could say I feel sort of commissioned to enlist you in such thoughts of HOPE in your life and sphere of influence.
Like a gust of wind, hope blew across me this morning leaving me changed, no … transformed is a better word, and we hope as it blows across you it will be transformative in your life. It may lift a weight you are carrying, or bring a challenge to reconsider something you set aside, or simply be uplifting to your day.
Here are some of the random thoughts racing rapidly through my mind. In the Good News of Jesus Christ there is HOPE for…
healing of all kinds to flow through our words and hands into the people we are sent to touch with the Gospel
forgiveness of wrongs committed by us, against us at the hands of others, and which are there simply because people in general miss the mark
people living through a missionary approach to life, even when we may not fully understand what all it means to live and minister this way, or the importance of doing life this way
the missional principles and practices we have committed our lives to living will be activated and take root in the hearts of others, as we share them with the People of Peace who are listening
a family of missionaries who embrace the mission before them and are willing to live into the cause of Jesus Christ together as an extended family, wherever the Holy Spirit has sent them
lost people to find their way because Jesus, the Good Shepherd, seeks and saves those who are lost … and we get to join Him in this work
a deeply profound move of the Holy Spirit in the souls of people who truly hunger and thirst after the way of Jesus. We cannot live such a life without His active counsel and comfort along the way
Gospel saturation to take place in our neighborhoods, communities, and across our nation as People of Peace discover Jesus is Lord in meaningful ways to them
so, so, so very much more that we cannot list them all here in this newsletter
May the HOPE found in Jesus Christ our Lord spring up within your soul over the days and weeks ahead. We are talking about an overwhelming flood which carries you from whatever pain, disappointment, misunderstanding, fear, or lack keeps you from living into the call of God in your life. May this hope empower you for the very work Christ has laid out for you to do and you will effectively pass this hope on to those who follow you as you follow Jesus.
Let the multiplication begin as each of us pick up the mantle of HOPE and commit ourselves to live into the mission of Jesus Christ. We are missionaries, sent people, ready to reproduce in others what has been given to us so they can experience transformation through the love, acceptance, and forgiveness of Jesus Christ and be whole and filled with the HOPE of Jesus. Amen and amen!
We trust this small invasion into your life reflects, awakens, or activates within you what was birthed in us. There is always HOPE enough to share with all who join us around our table, so take a minute and invite others to sit with you and share the HOPE you hold with them.
Take a minute and email us your story of how HOPE found its way in you.