Tuesday, January 1, 2008
WHILE I BREATHE, I HOPE
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Happy New Year, Everybody! The title of this post is actually the state motto of South Carolina. (I sure wish I had known that when I lived there many years ago.) My sons and I were studying SC this past fall, and when we were looking at the state trivia, this little phrase just jumped out at me. I remember when I was a kid, the SBC did a huge promotional drive, and the catchphrase was this: "Here's Hope! Jesus Cares for You!" Here's hope. . . You know, sometimes it is easy to lose hope. And in a hopeless world, WOW! that slogan certainly would pique the curiosity of someone who had lost theirs. Serving Christ in an inner city church presents a lot of hopeless situations, especially when it comes to the children. I work with our kids at church and each one of them have a claim on my heart! When we first began serving there, it was so difficult to just keep my tears in check before I made it out to the van to go home. There were many Wednesday nights when I would go the very short four miles back to my house and it seemed like I was leaving one planet to go to another. And I would cry over those kids and the situations they lived in: negligent parents, drug-abusing parents, abusive step-parents, and on the list goes. And one Sunday, as I was sitting behind some of our church kids, thinking about them, and really just despairing, I heard a gentle reprimand in my heart, as God pointed out that I had lost my hope. I've been praying about that, and when I stumbled upon that state motto, I immediately adopted it as my own. While I breathe, I hope. Last night, at our NYE party, one of the kids had to leave early. His dad was taking him to an adult party where there would be, as you might imagine, lots of adult things going on. I cried going home, praying, begging, pleading for God's mercy to be on this child and guard his eyes and his heart and just everything. And then I remembered that motto. I took a few deep breaths, and asked God to fill me with His Hope, hope for that child, and hope that this will be the year that his dad turns his life over to Jesus Christ. It occurs to me that one of the reasons I have felt hopeless is that there is a lack of prayer for the kids we minister to. Their parents are unsaved, so they are not praying for their kids. With prayer, there is hope, and so I'm stepping up my prayers for them this year. The Lord has filled me with a hope now that is bursting from my heart--and I know that 2008 holds lots of answered prayers. May your New Year be HOPE-FULL. |
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Wednesday, January 2, 2008 - Untitled Comment
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Posted by funkyleo