What if someone told you that all of your disappointments, heartbreaks, tragedies, traumas, losses…everything that we have every experienced would have an end result of happiness that we could not imagine? All of the crying, worrying, and anxiety would not compare – matter of fact, we when we look back and smile at how we were able to overcome so many burdens.

Someone did tell us that, but we do not believe it.

Romans 8:28  (NKJV)
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Maybe we do not understand what the word “all” means. All is: fully, all of, completely, entirely, thoroughly, through and through (Oh God), totally, utterly.

If we did, as a follower of Jesus, we would not be so bipolar with our living sacrifice. We would stop living like it’s B.C. (before Christ).

One moment, we believe God for the impossible, the next, we are so fed up with God, that we are willing to drop everything connected to Him. I wonder if it were a real sacrifice to hear a word through God’s ordained minister, if we would be more intentional in our walk. I was reading this book entitled: “Chase the Lion.” The author was expressing how he had spoken at a Pastor’s conference and how humbling it was to be there in the midst of many prominent people. But what was more humbling was the fact that the author shared a stage with a Minister of God who oversees a church in Damascus, the capital city of Syria. His life is in danger everyday and the congregants walk down what they call “sniper alley” every day, just to worship together. People are killed daily, for going to church. The people of God believe, that God is their refuge – a very PRESENT help during this troubled time. So, they gird up their loins for the journey to be present with the Holy Spirit and to feel His presence, not knowing what awaits them on the otherside of that door, or while they are in the midst of worship.

Here in this country, we have been gifted the freedom to freely worship our Father, and we validate any excuse as legitimate to not assemble ourselves together.

We have been given hope. Do you realize there are people who have not been granted access to this hope, which is in Jesus? Having been given this hope, Christians should be the most relaxed, the most grateful, the most hopeful, the most confident and usually it is the opposite. Even on the worse of the worse days, the joy of the Lord should be enough strength to carry us through. What is the joy of the Lord? The very fact that someone believed in you, never turned their back on you, gave you a hope and a future, did not judge you, but rather welcomed you without a specific criteria – without having millions of followers on Instagram (You know that “group” of people you are trying to gain the attention of?) You have the attention of THE Creator – the one who created the one you want to notice you – and you overlook Him, to get to the creation.

Faith an worry cannot coexist.
Hope and fear cannot coexist.

One has to go – and you have to decide which one will take up residence in your life. I have decided to place my hope in the word of God. It is quick and it is powerful. It is the only book that has transformed my life and given me substance. It is the only book where I can feel the presence of God and the Holy Spirit speaking to me, on how to please Him and to be purposeful in my life. It is because this book is not just a book; it is a navigation system that will guide me to my Savior. I have hope in His word.

Psalm 119:114  (NIV)
You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.