Hopefully Hopeful

Credit goes to Rick Warren who presented a sermon on the topic of “Hope is my Anchor” and gave me a starting point and content for this little devotional. In our previous discussions, we have focused on Love, Grace and now we will tackle Hope, the least discussed of the three, I believe.

It is critically important that we understand hope since scripture says:

 …those who forget God have no hope. They are like rushes without any mire to grow in; or grass without water to keep it alive. Suddenly it begins to wither, even before it is cut. — Job 8:11-13 TLB

But what is hope? I found two definitions. In the dictionary, hope means a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. And, in a Bible dictionary, I found a very similar meaning of to trust in, wait for, or desire something; or to expect something beneficial in the future. Is that the way we use the word “hope?” Are we using the word “hope” in the right way or is it optimism (hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something) we are meaning? What is the difference? Here’s an example: It’s springtime regardless of what the weather looks like outside. So, I can say “I hope it is sunny every day this spring.” We are hopeful of that, but it isn’t a certain hope, it isn’t based in reality, it is optimistic. And, optimism is better than pessimism where we would say, “It’s spring and it will probably be gloomy and cold all season” which is definitely not hopeful. However, we truly do have the hope of spring. It is spring. Optimism only works for things you can control. When something bad happens, optimism says, “It’s not as bad as you think,” but hope would say, “It’s bad, it’s really bad, BUT I still believe it will get better.” Optimism is Psychological and Hope is Theological.

There are three kinds of hope. The first is wishful hope, which is what I described above and what most of us use the word “hope’ for. “I hope the light turns green.” This is worthless hope. It is a false hope. There is nothing that will change the light by your hoping.

The second kind of hope is expectant hope. This hope has some basis in reality. For example, if you plant seeds, you can hope they grow. (Wishful hope would be hoping your garden grew without planting any seeds.) So, you can have expectant hope, you planted seeds and you hope they grow, but will they grow for certain? They may or may not.

Lastly, there is CERTAIN HOPE and this is the Biblical use of the word hope. Hebrews 6:19a says:

This certain hope of being saved is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls, connecting us with God… (TLB)

Real hope is based on God’s word and NOT my wishes. There is no doubt in certain hope. You can count on God’s promises because they are sure things and you will want to build your life on this type of hope. The above verse tells us the three things that certain hope is. It is strong, trustworthy and it’s an anchor.

Using the anchor illustration, let’s explore what an anchor is used for. It is used to keep a ship from drifting and it adds stability in a storm. Doesn’t God’s word do that for us? Without an anchor, it is easy to drift downstream and without being connected to God and His word, it is easy for us to drift too. We also need this certain hope for stability. The bigger the ship, the bigger the anchor needed. So in our lives, what does that look like? If you want to live a little life and stay uninvolved and not do a mighty work for God, then you can get away with a teeny tiny anchor, however, if your life involves others and you want to live a big, full, abundant life, you are going to need a big anchor. A big anchor for your soul.

We get this certain hope, aka “anchor” from God’s word. Certain hope is based on God’s promises in the Bible. As Rick Warren stated,

“Certain hope is not based on what is sensed, but what is said. Not based on my emotions but what is spoken and it is not based on my Imagination, but on God’s obligation to do what he says he will do.” 

There are approximately (because who can truly count them?) 8,810 promises and 7,487 of them are made by God to us! One thing we are certain of is that God can’t lie, so these promises are what we should stand on. When we put our hope in His promises we can be certain of them. 

One big ah-ha moment I got when I was studying this topic was that we can be certain of God’s promises, but the thing that I sometimes don’t take into account is that God has all of eternity to make his promises come true. He is not limited to our life here on earth. So when we hope for something, and we check it against His word, He has until eternity to fulfill his promise, but we can be filled with hope because we know that he will!

The more we know his promises, the closer we will be to him, and the closer we are to Him, the more hopeful we will be. I read that hope gives the motivation and courage needed to succeed. It’s been said that a person can live forty days without food, four days without water, four minutes without air, but only four seconds without hope. I think that is a major incentive for us to look for the certain hope that we know is available to us!

Loving Life?

Valentine’s Day is coming and all minds turn to LOVE.  While planning a Ladies’ Craft Night for church, I was asked to present a talk/lesson with the theme of love.  There are many scriptures that mention the word “love.”  Depending on the translation you are using, Love is mentioned between 310 and 898 times in the Bible!  However, not every meaning of the word love is the same.  I know you don’t love french fries in the same way you love your spouse!  With so many different ways to go with the theme of love, I decided to focus on living a life you love!  I read a book by Joyce Meyer (Living a Life you Love) that helped me come up with ideas and examples of what can be done to live a life you love.

In a nutshell, to live a life you love, you need to love God, love yourself, and love others.  Easy peasy….or is it.  How do we do that?

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ — Matthew 22:37

Some practical ways to love God? First off, you need to spend time with Him, talk to Him, ask Him what He wants.  Then you can show you love Him by obeying what He tells you, serving others in His name, and choosing to do everything out of love for Him. This may mean setting your alarm early to spend time in prayer and Bible study or it may mean serving in a soup kitchen. It may be as simple as obeying His prompt to keep your mouth shut or as complex as creating a ministry to serve folks in your community.  Keep asking Him what He wants you to do and you will show your love by doing it.

We love because he first loved us. –1 John 4:19

Secondly, love yourself. If you have ever heard the acronym JOY to mean Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself last, the order of the steps needed in living a life you love seems to contradict that because before you focus your love on others, you need to recognize how much you are loved and learn to love yourself.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. –John 15:12

We are to love others as we are loved by God.  That’s a big ask because God loves us so much.  But oftentimes, we forget that we are loved and we forget that we are lovable.  We think about our flaws, our mistakes, and our struggles and we forget about who we are in Christ.  We need to take action steps to love ourselves.  

There are many ways to love yourself.  You can begin by saying something nice about yourself.  The Bible gives us many examples and says we are blessed, loved, precious, understood, forgiven, and free.  We are complete, chosen, wonderfully made, and strong.  We are children of God and we are redeemed.  Scripture says we are loved and we should love ourselves so we can love others.  You can’t pour from an empty cup and so you need to fill your cup with the truth that you are loved so you can pour that love on others.

Another way to love yourself is to do something for yourself.  Like taking a craft class, learning something new, sipping a special cup of tea, or just relaxing.  Treat yourself the way you wish others would treat you…with loving-kindness.

 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. –Matt 22:39

When you are firmly grounded and aware of the love of God and you love yourself, you are in the proper place to love others. The more you love others, the happier you will be. As you explore living a life you love, you need to recognize that scripture says that God is Love (1 John 4:8) so when you make love the primary focus of your life, you are making God your number one priority. 

When dealing with others you need to make a decision to love.  It’s easy to love some people and a little harder to love others, but you can make a decision to do just that.  You can’t change others and their annoying habits but you can turn your focus from the things they do that you don’t like and you can choose to demonstrate love to them every day.  The more you love others the happier you will be. Every time you make a decision to love someone who mistreats you, it will give you joy because Jesus loved those who mistreated him and if we respond similarly in our situations, we are acting like Jesus and that is the goal…to be more like Him. This kind of love will require sacrifice, but sacrifice doesn’t have to feel like a bad thing.  We often think of sacrifice as not getting something we want or doing without, but really when we sacrifice for others we are actually receiving more than we are giving because the Lord will bless our efforts.  You will never regret loving someone if you recognize that by loving them you are loving God. 

 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. — Hebrews 13:16

When I mentioned the 3 things you needed to do to live a life you love, it seemed like a step-by-step approach with 3 distinct steps.  But as I studied it more, I realized that they all flow together and the lines are blurry.  Is it step number 3, loving others when you bake them a cake or is that step number 2, loving you because you will get to feel so good when you bless them?  Or is delivering the cake, step number 1, loving God, by loving others?  See how this all goes together? Since God is love if you want to live a life you love you simply need to make love the central theme of it.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. –John 15:12

Write? Speak? Read?

Twenty-four days into a new year I finally realized how much I’ve missed writing.  I pretty much took last year off from writing for my blog and I guess now it’s time to get “Beck to basics!”  As I finally cleaned the room where I typically write after making the room Christmas Central for wrapping and packaging, I noticed the painting on the wall. 

Write to be understood, Speak to be heard and Read to grow. A Lawrence Clark Powell quote. I had no idea who Lawrence Clark Powell was (I do now, I googled it) but I appreciated the sentiments as painted by my daughter.  I love it, but do I do it?  Do I write to be understood? I write.  And though I haven’t written publicly for over a year, I write daily in a journal and I often wonder if I’m writing to be understood.  Will anyone ever read these journals posthumously?  Will it bring clarity to my children?  Will they be able to understand that most days my ramblings and struggles are just that? Ramblings and struggles that have no meaning.  Or will they better understand that I was a work in progress their entire lives?  I came across a journal yesterday from 2004 and it listed my goals and desires.  It made me laugh as most of them could’ve been written yesterday (except for the one about owning a swimming pool..I no longer desire that.)  I think whoever reads these ramblings will wonder why I never lost those 5 pounds and never stopped worrying about things that didn’t matter.

Do I speak to be heard?  Not mostly.  I love to do public speaking where I can share a story and then the lesson I learned from the story, but in general, I don’t think I speak my opinions very openly or very confidently.  I may “speak” my opinions by my actions, so watch my body language…sometimes I can’t hide that even if I can bite my tongue.

Read to grow?  Oh, now this is an area I enjoy.  Wait.  I read.  Do I read to grow?  I certainly try.  Since the new year, I have read 4 non-fiction books and I’ve learned about gas wells and Marcellus Shale, how to trust more, some African culture, and how to live a life I love.  I may have grown with each of those.  My vocabulary has grown a bit (when I’ve bothered to look up the word I didn’t know.) I’ve grown with those titles but currently am enjoying not necessarily learning and not necessarily growing with a fiction book!  Reading is always a good idea & the potential for growth is there…even in fiction!

Twenty-four days into the new year and now…with this post…I can say I’ve addressed the prompts on my painting.  I write, I speak, I read.  I’m Beck to basics!

 

 

 

 

Twenty four days into a new year and I finally realized how much I’ve missed writing.  I pretty much took last year off from writing for my blog and I guess now it’s time to get “Beck to basics!”  As I finally cleaned the room where I typically write after making the room Christmas Central for wrapping and packaging, I noticed the painting on the wall. 

Write to be understood, Speak to be heard and Read to grow. A Lawrence Clark Powell quote. I had no idea who Lawrence Clark Powell was (I do now, I googled it) but I appreciated the sentiments as painted by my daughter.  I love it, but do I do it?  Do I write to be understood? I write.  And though I haven’t written publicly for over a year, I write daily in a journal and I often wonder if I’m writing to be understood.  Will anyone ever read these journals posthumously?  Will it bring clarity to my children?  Will they be able to understand that most days my ramblings and struggles are just that? Ramblings and struggles that have no meaning.  Or will they better understand that I was a work in progress their entire lives?  I came across a journal yesterday from 2004 and it listed my goals and desires.  It made me laugh as most of them could’ve been written yesterday (except for the one about owning a swimming pool..I no longer desire that.)  I think whoever reads these ramblings will wonder why I never lost those 5 pounds and never stopped worrying about things that didn’t matter.

Do i speak to be heard?  Not mostly.  I love to do public speaking where I can share a story and then the lesson I learned from the story, but in general, I don’t think I speak my opinions very openly or very confidently.  I may “speak” my opinions by my actions, so watch my body language…sometimes I can’t hide that even if I can bite my tongue.

Read to grow?  Oh, now this is an area I enjoy.  Wait.  I read.  Do I read to grow?  I certainly try.  Since the new year, I have read 4 non fiction books and I’ve learned about gas wells and Marcellus Shale, how to trust more, some African culture and how to live a life I love.  I may have grown with each of those.  My vocabulary has grown a bit (when I’ve bothered to look up the word I didn’t know.) I’ve grown with those titles but currently am enjoying not learning and not necessarily growing with a fiction book!  Reading is always a good idea & the potential for growth is there…even in fiction!

Twenty four days into the new year and now…with this post…I can say I’ve addressed the prompts on my painting.  I write, I speak, I read.  I’m Beck to basics!

Mosaics Make a Difference!

Mosaics make a difference! Who knew? Artists know that any kind of art makes a difference, but who knew what a difference mosaics would make for my husband and me or the small village of Mombin Crochu, Haiti. It all began for us, about 3 years ago when our daughter and son-in-law invited us to their house for a mosaic party. She invited some friends over and everyone was to create a mosaic for their mother for Mother’s Day. She had some frames and some bits of glass and she told us to simply glue some pretty glass to the glass frame. My husband chose to make a sailboat and I chose to pick some pretty colors and glue them in rows. Both of us were so proud of our work and our mothers were pleased with their gifts.

Though art is not…or should I say was not…our passion, Mombin Crochu, Haiti is. We have visited there and we help support a clinic there through Hearts 4 Haiti. That day in Richmond, VA when we were creating mosaics and laughing with friends we decided to turn mosaic making into money-making for Hearts 4 Haiti. With generous donations of glass and frames and minimal personal investments in some tools, we decided to host mosaic workshops at our home and give 100% of the proceeds to our friends in Haiti.

Since our first mosaic, we have created many more and better yet, we have helped others create and be proud of their work! In just a couple of hours, we can help others create a piece of art they can display in their homes while raising money for healthcare and food for the poorest of the poor. Mosaics do make a difference in more ways than one! Join us sometime!

Your Before May Be My After

I belong to a Facebook group called Power Purge Peeps.  It is a group of people who want to de-clutter their homes one small area at a time.  So far, I’ve cleared out my fridge and my pantry and I’m about to tackle my bakeware.  Since I’m the administrator of this group, I love to share my before and after pictures.  This is very motivating to me and I think others like to see that someone else is actually doing these tasks with them.  I really enjoy seeing other peoples’ accomplishments and progress too.  However, today, when I was sharing a picture of my pantry as a collage of a before and after photo, I remembered a time when a friend set me straight on something.

At the time, I was grumbling about my weight (which is something I do about as often as I complain about the clutter in my house.) I grumble about it, but I don’t always do something about it.  Anyhow, as I was complaining to her one day about needing to wear my “fat jeans” she said, “You do realize that your fat jeans are my skinny jeans, right?”  Ouch. That was probably very true, but it didn’t make me feel any better about my “fat jeans.” The thing it did make me realize is that we are all striving for different things.  Whether it’s a different size of jeans or a more orderly pantry, progress in our own situation is what will make us feel good. It does no good to compare our situation to the situation of others.  We all start somewhere and then improvement from that starting point is what matters.

So as I share these photos, I realize that my Before photo may look like someone’s After photo and my After photo may look like someone’s Before photo and that is okay.  I’ll just be pleased that I made progress and I hope you are too!

PS – If you struggle with comparison, check out What you Make It to find 10 Bible verses for when you play the comparison game.

100 Days

Today’s the day.  Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. becomes president of the United States of America. The count begins.  The world will watch and see what he does in his first 100 days of office. I’ve read some articles about what he hopes to accomplish and I’ve read articles about what others hope he focuses on, but the take away from all of my reading has been the day count. We want to see what this man gets done in the next 100 days. It has me wondering, what would it look like if we all got rated on the next 100 days? What can we hope to accomplish? Have we made our lists?

There is certainly a lot of unrest in our country and today we focus on the leaders and what we hope they will do to get our nation to unite and to heal from all the negative events of recent years. (A Global Pandemic, for one!) but there is absolutely no way I personally can help President Biden accomplish that.  However, maybe I can make a difference for those around me by focusing on MY next 100 days and what I hope to accomplish. I’ve been thinking about this and honestly haven’t come up with my idea yet, but I think it’s something anyone can do.  I was discussing it with my 91-year-old Mom and said that maybe I should commit to pray for the president daily or get outside and enjoy fresh air daily or some little thing for 100 days.  She suggested, “no complaining for 100 days.”  I, of course, wasn’t thinking of choosing something that challenging, but you get the idea.  Would you feel better if you exercised daily, donated $1/day to a worthy cause, kissed your spouse, or paid someone a compliment every day for the next 100 days? Could you make a difference if you tried to do a random act of kindness or read a bible verse every day for the next 100 days?

I have absolutely no idea how doing any of these things in the next 100 days will affect the economy, the pandemic, or the Paris Climate Accord, but it might make us all feel a little better.  Feel free to let me know what you plan to do…especially if it is something as big as not complaining!

Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.     —Proverbs 16:3

Confused About Christmas Plans?

Is Christmas 2020 different for you? Have you decided where you will go, who you will see or what you will do? Are you making plans for the day even if the plans are to stay home? Are you feeling joyful about this? I’m guessing that this year, you may not be as joyful about your plans as you would like.  Your thoughts may be rambling, you may be indecisive and you are confused about the best thing to do. This doesn’t feel very joyful, because you simply can’t have joy when you are confused.

Even though the thoughts of celebrating Christmas during a pandemic brings about a lot of confusion, it isn’t the first time there was confusion about Christmas and it turns out that we are in good company. Think about the Christmas story in scripture, everyone in the story is confused except for the angels. Joseph, Mary, Shepherds, all wondered what was going to happen and what was going on. Even the Wisemen were confused about exactly where they were going, but when they were confused, they chose to follow God’s light one step at a time. 

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” –Matt 2:1-3

These wise men traveled all the way to Jerusalem but still had to ask where Jesus could be found. They were still seeking him.

He  (King Herod) sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” –Matt 2:8

So they continued…

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.  –Matt 2:9-10

Aaaaah.  They found him. When they were confused, they followed his light to wind up where they needed to be. They needed his light to help them and when we are confused we need to follow his light too. It may not be a star in the sky, but God still is willing to give us directions and a path to follow in his Word. He will help us decide how to get to Christmas and what plans we should make. Ask Him to guide you as you make plans, follow His light one step at a time and you, too, will find Him at Christmas. It’s Jesus’s birthday, our Savior’s birthday, and he wants us to celebrate it, don’t allow confusion about holiday plans or the lack of them, rob you of His true joy. Be like the Wisemen and follow God’s light one step at a time.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing (or generous) spirit. –Psalm 51:12

 

Christmas Anticipation in 2020

Advent has always been a time of sweet anticipation.  I remember as a kid seeing the Advent wreath with candles at the front of the church and getting so excited when I knew the center one would soon be lit on Christmas Eve.  It was a very JOY filled time and it still is as we anticipate the true meaning of Christmas.  However, every year in addition to the advent wreath lighting at church, our preparations at home and with family traditions build weekly leading toward Christmas Day.  We put the tree up anticipating the presents under it, we shop anticipating how the receiver will respond, we bake anticipating the joy of sharing our families’ recipes. We anticipate. And, this year the anticipation may not be as sweet as we remember from years prior. Will there be presents under the tree or will I have to ship them? Will I bother to shop or honestly, does an Amazon gift card make the most sense this year? Do I even need to bake if I’m not entertaining? I may allow my anxiety about not knowing exactly what this year’s Christmas celebration will look like to run away with my joy. Rick Warren in a sermon once listed anxiety as the first destroyer of joy and he said that the antidote to that was to choose to trust God and accept his plan and he gave a perfect example of someone doing just that in the Christmas story.  Let’s look at Mary and see if she, too, was faced with some uncertainty.

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

Wow. That sounds like anxiety to me.

³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

I’m still not sure that the angel’s words would’ve stopped my anxiety. The angel explained a bit more…

³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[a] the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

And now comes the antidote:

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Mary answered. She chose to trust God and accept His plan. There you have it. There is the answer to all of our anxiety due to the uncertainty this 2020 Christmas season.  We can choose to trust God and accept His plan.  Whatever that may be.

Deck the halls, trim the tree, do the shopping and baking, but most importantly, choose to trust!

“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”     –Isaiah 26:3-4

Joy During Advent

It’s Advent and many of you know all about lighting Advent candles and having Advent wreaths as your traditions.  During Advent, we light the candles of hope, joy, love, and peace, and traditionally, each week would focus on each of those things.  But, this year, I’ve decided to focus on Joy from the very beginning of Advent. Joy. Joy. Joy. And, Joy.  Light the candle of Joy!

The Christmas season is the time of year when you see the word joy everywhere.  Ornaments, decorations, sweatshirts, and lawn ornaments all have the word. Many Christmas Carols use the word joy in them in addition to songs we sing year-round.  “I have the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart, down in my heart.”  So, this year especially, I think we need to remember that down in our hearts is exactly where joy resides. Joy is one of the fruits of the spirit, so it is within us and not dependent on what is going on around us.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  –Galatians 5:22-23

There is a difference between happiness and joy and to simply try to explain it, happiness depends on happenings.  Things that are going on around you and the circumstances that you are living through.  Joy is different.  Joy is from within and is a feeling. Aaaaaaaah.  We can feel joy even when we can’t be happy.  What a relief. Since joy is within us, no one can steal it. It can’t be taken from us. We have to make a decision to choose joy even when our circumstances are not what we hope for.

My favorite definition of joy is from Kay Warren. She states:

Joy is: “The settled assurance that God is in control of every detail in my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything will be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in all things.” (from Choose Joy, 2012)

Let’s determinedly be assured that God is in control and that everything will be all right and let’s praise God in all things…even this.  Whatever “this” is for you. No matter what today brings, remember joy is inside of you and you CAN be joyful.

Waiting …

I told K that I was retreating to my studio to write for an hour…I revised it and said “at least 30 minutes” because I have been working on writing an Advent Devotional/Bible Study for a while and I need to be more diligent. I made it to the room, tried to rid myself of distractions, had my cup of tea, found my notes, and began. I needed to print out a resource so I hit the “print” button and that’s where it stopped. The document did not print and my plan of writing had stopped. I did what everyone does and selected “print” again.  Nothing. Maybe I didn’t actually select it, so I tried again. Print. Maybe I’m too far away from my wireless printer, so I picked up my laptop, sat next to the printer on the floor, and selected “print” again. Nothing. I checked my settings and made sure my wireless was turned on and the printer address was valid. Everything appeared to be set up and working. Print. Again…nothing.  Finally, I did what apparently needed to be done.  I turned off my computer. I sat for a few seconds. I turned my computer back on and then I heard it.  The whirring of the printer as it readied itself and began its work. It started shooting out multiple copies of the document that I was waiting for. One neat and tidy document appeared….and then another…and then another…and another…please stop….another…another….how many times did I push the print button?! It stopped. Aaaaah. I now sat on the floor beside my laptop, my printer, and an overabundance of documents.  I only needed one.

It made me stop and think, though, about how many times my prayer life feels like that.  I pray a prayer and want an immediate response. “Lord, fix this. Gimme this. Let me have this. I need this. I want this. Can I have it? Can I have it now?” I try all I can to get what I want. I’m not getting it. I keep demanding. It’s not working. It’s not happening. Nothing. Finally, I sit. I wait. Is that what God was after all along? I wonder. I sit and now I smile because I know that the Lord is just waiting for His timing to be right and then the abundance of blessings will be shooting out of heaven like the papers out of my printer.  I can’t wait to watch them flow! And, the best part of all…I’m not worried about God running out of blessings like I am worried about this printer running out of ink!

OK. I’ve written. Now back to my original task of an Advent Devotional. It’s coming….just wait…I hope.

Micah 7:7
But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me.

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.  –2 Corinthians 9:8

Psalm 39:7
“And now, Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in You.

Psalm 33:20
Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.

Hosea 12:6
Therefore, return to your God,
Observe kindness and justice,
And wait for your God continually.

Psalm 27:14
Wait for the Lord;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the Lord.