My Grandparents

I would love to have one more conversation with my grandparents.  Their words spoke life into me, highlighting the need for strength and an enduring spirit as they told stories set in an era of hardship and horrific circumstances  . . .  world wars  and a great depression . . .  and filled with words like perseverance and endurance.  However.  The word, hope, was not added until their later years of life, after they asked Christ to be at the center of their story.  Hope brought light into the darkness of their life, changing the story.

The things is . . . hard stuff still happened . . . but hope shifted the way life was translated.  Let me make it clear,  I do not want to experience the hard stuff of life.  But.  I know hope changes the way the story ends.

Consider.

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love (Romans 5:3-5, NLT).

This promise of hope that does not disappoint shifts the outcome of our story.  The story includes the "already" of what Christ gives us to face the stuff of life and also the hope of more to come, the "not yet."
So.  Today.  I am sure my grandparents would say, Let God's Word, hope, speak to you today and be a part of your story. 

Run the race, knowing the hope of Christ will not lead to disappointment in your story.  Focus on what Christ has "already" put in the story of your life.  Believe God has more for you, the "not yet" of hope.  

Learning to Kickstart the day with the word, hope,
Kerrie

(written by Kerrie Carlisle Palmer © 2011 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)