“A Christian will part with anything rather than his hope; he knows that hope will keep the heart both from aching and breaking, from fainting and sinking; he knows that hope is a beam of God, a spark of glory, and that nothing shall extinguish it till the soul be filled with glory.” Thomas Brooks

Sweet friends, as we scroll through all the posts from family and friends, what we see are the good times! We see happy smiles and families gatherings around beautifully set tables in decorated homes. We see the best of each other's lives. I mean isn't that the point? Here, we want to share happy times. No haters, no drama, no negative. Am I right?

But you know what? As we scroll and observe only happiness, we wrongly begin to think that everyone has happy all the time and their life is trouble-free.

Hogwash.

It's not possible to have happy all the time or have a trouble-free life. These are the things we purposefully choose not to share on social media. However, we must not forget that so many of us are grieving, mentally and/or physically ill/suffering, brokenhearted over relationships or choices, or any number of heartbreaks. For many, life circumstances have us feeling alone, isolated, forgotten, lost, weary, and hopeless.

I think this is why I love the word for this first week of advent.

Hope.

It is so good to remind our minds, hearts and each other that Jesus came into this dark and hurting world to give us hope not FROM or OUT of our circumstances but IN and THROUGH our circumstances. In Jesus, we find our hope. As we put our minds and hearts in order by speaking the truth from God's Word to each other and ourselves, we put hope in its proper perspective. Remember...

"At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." Titus 3:4-7

Savor these precious morsels of truth. Hope allows us to endure these dark and hurting times. Let this hope of eternal life with Christ comfort us in our sorrow and suffering "...a Christian knows that hope will keep the heart both from aching and breaking, from fainting and sinking; he knows that hope is a beam of God, a spark of glory, and that nothing shall extinguish it till the soul be filled with glory.”

Hope endures.