Noticing Signs of Hope

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Challenge Day: 20

The author wrote about Christmas being a sign of hope because of the reason for the season, Jesus. We have to look for hope in our times of sadness and despair. There's a story of a lady named Lynn, who was taking care of her ailing father who was suffering from kidney disease. One day when she was in the parking lot, after dropping her father off for dialysis, she noticed a bare tree that looked frail and weak. The tree reminded her of her father and his failing health. She said that suddenly a red breasted robin landed on the tree and just like that she saw the bird as a sign of hope amid sadness. She realized that instead of feeling sad all the time for her father, she instead should be thankful for the days she still had with him.

When we are going through rough patches in our lives it's really hard to see any signs of hope, but if we stop and really look, they are there. The older I get the more I understand that most people who are unhappy feel that way because they won't see the good things around them. I've learned to be a happy and appreciative of the blessings God has given me. If we only focus on the negative or the things we want and can't have, we are never going to be happy. Here's an example of hope, we have our home for sale and the house across the street went up for sale too, for much less than ours. What I thought was going to be bad for us has turned out to be a blessing because when people go to see the house across the street they see our home and want to see it as well. Therefore, we are getting more traffic through our home. No, life isn't always going to be a walk in the park, but the point is that when life gets tough we need to look hard to see the signs of hope that are there.

Today I'm supposed to choose one the of the scriptures in the chapter, meditate on it and write about how it applies to my life today. I chose Romans 12:12, Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. How it applies to me life today? Well, I'm learning to have faith that God hears my prayers and will answer according to his will. It brings me joy to have hope that God wants to take care of me. This year so far has been filled with affliction and I though I want everything fixed right away, I know that I have to be patient and wait for God to do His thing.

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