Hope!

December is here! We are officially ringing in the season of Christmas and the last gasp of 2020. It also brings with it the season of Advent. I have to be honest, I never really paid much attention to advent. But advent is the thing that helps us keep our focus on the true meaning of Christmas, the “reason for the season”, so I thought I’d spend a little time focusing on it this year! Advent is all about the preparation leading up to Jesus’ birth, and who doesn’t love the preparation for Christmas? But it also celebrates the hopeful expectation of His return. Advent focuses on hope, peace, joy, and love and is celebrated the four Sundays/weeks leading up to Christmas. So for this week’s blog post, I want to commit my week to HOPE.

We use the word “hope” often, like “I hope it doesn’t rain today”. But that’s really more of a wish. Biblical hope is the confident expectation of what God has promised and His faithfulness. We have hope because of Jesus’s birth and the prophecies it fulfilled. We don’t just celebrate His birthday, we are celebrating God’s faithful promises of the Old Testament coming true! And that same hope and faithfulness is found in the promise of His return.

I’ve been through a lot in the last few years. But the only reason I was able to is because of the hope I have in Jesus. In the confident expectation – not that my circumstances would turn out all right – but that God is on my side and taking care of me no matter what happens. And because of that, all things are possible! God has a purpose for your life as well and you can rest in the confident expectation of His promises for you!

Life on this earth is hard, there’s no question about that. But there is more than life on this earth! God has a purpose and a plan and He is faithful. And He is coming back one day and when he does, we will no longer need to bear the pain, the tears, and the burdens this world holds. I don’t know about you, but I sure am thankful for that. He is worthy of your hope.

So this week, as we turn our eyes towards December 25th, light your mental advent candle and consider HOPE this week! The hope we celebrate at Christmas, the hope that He is to soon to return, and the hope He provides for everything we face in between.