H O P E

The longing or desire for something accompanied by the belief in the possibility of its occurrence.

Today is a day that I just really needed some hope.

Just because,
somedays we need to have a little confidence and trust
that the things we long for are possible.



     I used to despise hiking. My parents used to take me on a heck of hard hikes in the blazing heat when we lived in Portugal and let me tell you something... when you are a 14 year old girl, who loves to be socializing with her friends, tanning at the beach, playing volleyball and putting on makeup/painting your nails, NO view is worth spending your entire day trekking up a mountain under the scorching sun.

     Now, however, I have a very full life and really amazing, adventurous and noisy, needy children... and a hike is always a good idea! We live five minutes away from one of the most beautiful places I have ever hiked. It has become my favorite place in the world. I go there to gather my thoughts, to pray, and to process. My grandma gave me a book last year and it just so happened to be about the first settlers in Corvallis who came across the Oregon trail from the east to claim land and start new lives. I completely fell in love with this place before I even got here! When doing a little historical digging of my own, I learned that the property we bought and the place that I hike are the original homesteads and settlements of the amazing families I read about. As I walk through the forrest, cross over bubbling little soap creek, and look up at the giant trees on my adventures, I absolutely love that I am not the first or last person to walk those trails. I am just one of many. I am a part of something that is greater than myself. Those massive trees have been there long before I came into this world and will outlive me as well. My life seems small, in a good way, when I am in the forrest.
I get lost in that beautiful place.

     Now that winter has passed, all along the trail little tiny shoots of new life are springing up out of the ground. It amazes me how such towering and magnificent things grow from of such tiny, delicate, little beginnings. When the first bit of fragile green gently pokes up from the earth, that is hope to me.   I admire it in the forest, but hope looks even more beautiful when it springs up through the rocky ground of our hearts.

     The most beautiful thing about hope is that the condition of our heart does not have to be perfect for it to grow. Sometimes hope appears in the darkest, hardest places of our hearts. One beam of God's light can shine through the darkness onto the rough ground and that is all it takes for us to begin to see a little bit of hope peak up from the soil. Hope is not circumstantial, it is not a fleeting glimmer of something false or temporary, it is something we can count on. "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf." Hebrews 6:19-20a

I love that.

     WITH JESUS, we have hope NO MATTER WHAT. Hope is an anchor for our soul. That means that no matter how high the waves, how fierce the storm, how strong the current; hope keeps us from being tossed all about, hope holds us fast, keeps us from drifting; with hope we are immovable. With that kind of hope we are not brought down by our current circumstances or situations, no matter what comes our way, we can look to the future and believe that the things we dream of, aspire to be and long for are possible. Hope is a beautiful thing it gives us something beautiful, beyond ourselves to live for.

That's what I needed to remember today.

My hope is in the Lord and I am just where I belong;
Anchored to Him.