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Today......
Are you listening to Christmas music yet? What's your favorite carol?
My favorite is Angels We Have Heard on High.......how can you not love a song that uses your first name as the entire chorus? (Glo---o--o--ri---a in excelis Deo....) :-)
But today I'm thinking about a phrase in the french carol, O Holy Night.... Some of my Lafayette friends can probably sing it in its original french......but in English the phrase is, "A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices...."
Are you listening to Christmas music yet? What's your favorite carol?
My favorite is Angels We Have Heard on High.......how can you not love a song that uses your first name as the entire chorus? (Glo---o--o--ri---a in excelis Deo....) :-)
But today I'm thinking about a phrase in the french carol, O Holy Night.... Some of my Lafayette friends can probably sing it in its original french......but in English the phrase is, "A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices...."
HOPE is on my heart today.
Christmas can be a tough time for a lot of folks....
You might be struggling with being able to buy your kids gifts this year....my kids had their share of "Dollar Store" Christmases....
You may have had to relocate recently, and this will be your first Christmas without the extended family ......done that.....(just did it AGAIN!)
Maybe one of your loved ones is no longer with you to celebrate this year.....been there....
You may have had some rough Christmases in the past, and the season itself brings painful memories...
Some years ago...... I was given some news....BAD news....just a few days before Christmas......
It was so bad that when it was told to me, I literally couldn't even sit on the chair....my breath was taken away....I actually slipped out of the chair and onto the floor.
I can still see the Christmas tree beautifully decorated in the corner of the room, with piles of wrapped gifts underneath, the stockings were hung above the fireplace, Christmas lights lined the house... and in that Normal Rockwell styled scene..... I was on the floor.....
It was so bad that when it was told to me, I literally couldn't even sit on the chair....my breath was taken away....I actually slipped out of the chair and onto the floor.
I can still see the Christmas tree beautifully decorated in the corner of the room, with piles of wrapped gifts underneath, the stockings were hung above the fireplace, Christmas lights lined the house... and in that Normal Rockwell styled scene..... I was on the floor.....
Some people scream, sob, and pound things with their fists..... I just couldn't breathe....or sit in the chair....for some reason....(yeah, I know I'm unique....)
Maybe this is on my heart to write simply because I am reminded of that every year at this time....or maybe it's because you are going through a similar situation....and God wants you to have that "thrill of hope"so that your "weary soul" can rejoice !
Hope is positive expectation.....whatever bad thing you are facing today....EXPECT that things will get better!
You can choose to think that things will only get worse (be pessimistic)....
or that they will eventually improve (the optimistic choice)
Choose to have positive expectations!
You don't know which way this will end up.... so why not expect the best?
I like to use this acronym for HOPE= Having
Only
Positive
Expectations
You may ask, "What can I base my hope on? This situation is hopeless."
True hope, the hope that got me through that dark Christmas, and the days following, was knowing that GOD LOVES ME.
If you know God and have a relationship with Him through Jesus, then your hope is in the fact that GOD LOVES YOU SO MUCH THAT HE SENT JESUS.......if He didn't hold Jesus back from the cross for you, then He will not hold back whatever it is that you need to move forward out this mess........
If you don't know God....I want to let you know that He is the source of true hope.
As the lyrics of O Holy Night describe, when God became incarnate, mankind finally had hope.
Without a relationship with God, you may have some good days.....and you may receive a bounce from some positive mental attitude, but you won't have that "thrill of hope."
Hope that comes from being in a relationship with God will get you through whatever it is you are facing, and whatever you may face in the future...
The need for hope is timeless, and the promise of hope in God is eternal.
Regardless of where you stand today in relationship to God, please take a moment and read this short essay by Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) on hope....please take a minute a read it...read it out loud if you can....you will be THRILLED with HOPE!
Why yield to gloomy anticipations? Who told thee that the night would never end in day?
Who told thee that the sea of circumstances would ebb out till there should be nothing left
but long leagues of the mud of horrible poverty? Who told thee that the winter of thy
discontent would proceed from frost to frost, from snow, and ice, and hail, to deeper snow,
and yet more heavy tempest of despair? Knowest thou not that day follows night, that
flood comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed winter? HOPE THOU THEN!
HOPE THOU EVER! For God fails thee not. Dost thou not know that thy God loves thee in
the midst of all this? Mountains, when in darkness hidden, are as real as in day, and God's
love is as true to thee now as it was in thy brightest moments. Thous shalt yet climb
Jacob's ladder with the angels, and behold Him who sits at the top of it--thy covenant
God. Thou shalt yet, amidst the splendours of eternity, forget the trials of time, or only
remember them to bless the God who led thee through them, and wrought thy lasting good
by them. Come, sing in the midst of tribulation, Rejoice even while passing through the
furnace. Make the wilderness to blossom like the rose! Cause the desert to ring with thine
exulting joys, for these light afflictions will soon be over, and then "forever with the Lord,"
bliss shall never wane. - Charles Spurgeon
Back to O Holy Night........"The thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn"
The new morning is on its way! Don't give up!!!!!!
If you want to know more about having a relationship with God that will bring this kind of hope to your life, message me....email me....facebook me....I'd love to talk to you!
I'll blog ya next week.....in the meantime...do something today to fulfill your purpose!
To quote another song....not quite as classical....
"Have a holly jolly Christmas!"
Maybe this is on my heart to write simply because I am reminded of that every year at this time....or maybe it's because you are going through a similar situation....and God wants you to have that "thrill of hope"so that your "weary soul" can rejoice !
Hope is positive expectation.....whatever bad thing you are facing today....EXPECT that things will get better!
You can choose to think that things will only get worse (be pessimistic)....
or that they will eventually improve (the optimistic choice)
Choose to have positive expectations!
You don't know which way this will end up.... so why not expect the best?
I like to use this acronym for HOPE= Having
Only
Positive
Expectations
You may ask, "What can I base my hope on? This situation is hopeless."
True hope, the hope that got me through that dark Christmas, and the days following, was knowing that GOD LOVES ME.
If you know God and have a relationship with Him through Jesus, then your hope is in the fact that GOD LOVES YOU SO MUCH THAT HE SENT JESUS.......if He didn't hold Jesus back from the cross for you, then He will not hold back whatever it is that you need to move forward out this mess........
If you don't know God....I want to let you know that He is the source of true hope.
As the lyrics of O Holy Night describe, when God became incarnate, mankind finally had hope.
Without a relationship with God, you may have some good days.....and you may receive a bounce from some positive mental attitude, but you won't have that "thrill of hope."
Hope that comes from being in a relationship with God will get you through whatever it is you are facing, and whatever you may face in the future...
The need for hope is timeless, and the promise of hope in God is eternal.
Regardless of where you stand today in relationship to God, please take a moment and read this short essay by Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) on hope....please take a minute a read it...read it out loud if you can....you will be THRILLED with HOPE!
Why yield to gloomy anticipations? Who told thee that the night would never end in day?
Who told thee that the sea of circumstances would ebb out till there should be nothing left
but long leagues of the mud of horrible poverty? Who told thee that the winter of thy
discontent would proceed from frost to frost, from snow, and ice, and hail, to deeper snow,
and yet more heavy tempest of despair? Knowest thou not that day follows night, that
flood comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed winter? HOPE THOU THEN!
HOPE THOU EVER! For God fails thee not. Dost thou not know that thy God loves thee in
the midst of all this? Mountains, when in darkness hidden, are as real as in day, and God's
love is as true to thee now as it was in thy brightest moments. Thous shalt yet climb
Jacob's ladder with the angels, and behold Him who sits at the top of it--thy covenant
God. Thou shalt yet, amidst the splendours of eternity, forget the trials of time, or only
remember them to bless the God who led thee through them, and wrought thy lasting good
by them. Come, sing in the midst of tribulation, Rejoice even while passing through the
furnace. Make the wilderness to blossom like the rose! Cause the desert to ring with thine
exulting joys, for these light afflictions will soon be over, and then "forever with the Lord,"
bliss shall never wane. - Charles Spurgeon
Back to O Holy Night........"The thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn"
The new morning is on its way! Don't give up!!!!!!
If you want to know more about having a relationship with God that will bring this kind of hope to your life, message me....email me....facebook me....I'd love to talk to you!
I'll blog ya next week.....in the meantime...do something today to fulfill your purpose!
To quote another song....not quite as classical....
"Have a holly jolly Christmas!"
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