Thoughts on Week ONE class discussion: DEFINING HOPE

As I was going through my notes from class, as well as my own preparatory notes for class, I began to realize once again how deeply personal is each of our individual relationship, experiences, life lessons with and in the God who walks each one of us through every moment of our individual lives. All of the beautiful aha! moments and incredible hard testimonies shared during these past many weeks has solidified even more for me how truly ever-present is our God...even when we think He's not there. 

Throughout our many discussions and posts and emails, we have heard how God has worked His hand in our lives and in the lives of the people we know and love most. We have testimonies of God teaching about forgiveness, about perseverance, about communication and community. God teaching about time-outs and about surrender, about what we fear and why, about trust and why we don't, about letting go--shame, guilt, resentment, blame--and when "we" just can't do it anymore, about being transformed and redeemed anyway by His grace, the strength of His all-powerful love and His all-sovereign mercy. 

We even have testimonies about falling away in busy-ness, stomping away in anger, forgetting, distrusting, hurting and being hurtful...and then remembering, coming back again. And now, God is teaching us about hoping in the darkness and in the chaos of our most "hellish" situations, about faith and hope and trust in the confident waiting for God's answer...and about readying ourselves, steadying ourselves with His grace for the "how" and the very hard "no matter what"...about learning to lean upon Him, learning to pray boldly to Him, about giving in to Him fully...and about how, in the weakness of our humanness, the "fullness" of our faith may be no bigger than the size of a mustard seed...and HE says: "no problem...I'm about to do something HUGE with that!"

I think that this is the foundational stone that hit me this week...the beauty of the mere existence of testimonies. As you know, every week I try to identify the "golden thread"--the bottomline teaching, the rhema--that courses through the life-message behind each story, that reaches out from each verse, that connects each shared pearl and that pulls it all together into one huge Truth-lesson. But today, it suddenly occurred to me that the "core teaching" here is not so much in the lessons behind the testimonies themselves: it is in the very fact that there ARE testimonies in the first place.  

Know what I mean?

You see, I realized that despite their incredible diversity and uniqueness, every testimony shouts out to us: God Was There. And, not just then, but even now, He is present. He is active. He is working in every moment that turns that moment into a testimony--a pearl--a paradigm-shifting lesson of love and provision for His beloved child. Another brilliant facet of His nature and His Truth (and trust in that nature and Truth) revealed--given to all of us to consider and remember and learn something new that we could never know before this...

...About Him!

And it is through these testimonies--both personally experienced and secondhandedly witnessed--that we learn to HOPE in His nature and His promises. To know that we know that we know that we CAN HOPE in--depend on, trust in, confidently stand upon and excitedly anticipate--HIM because of ALL of the experiences in which He has revealed Himself to us! What was it that Jesus said? 

Remember Me.

Additionally, as we've talked about in class, it is through these testimonies that we can begin to see that perhaps what I call an obstacle, God calls an opportunity. My struggle is not a punishment, but rather a time of strengthening, preparation, learning, practice, true surrender, trust-building. As Terri alluded to in her blog post, something about that perspective brings on "a spirit of gratitude"--a deep thankfulness for all that God has, is and will be doing in/with/through me...teaching me things that will allow me to discern His hand in ALL of my moments--in all of the "bad" ones and the good ones.

But, perhaps even more importantly for our discussion this week, seeking out and recognizing His hand in all of my moments will allow me to remain fully present, open, and "learning" in every experience that builds the foundations that I will need in order to be able to trust in Him when things look really really really bad...when things look "hopeless"! This experiential foundation will be the key to having my heart ready and willing to take a true "leap of faith" when dire and until-now-never-encountered circumstances call for it. It's the building blocks of that confident HOPE..."No Matter What".

Thank You, God, for every testimony, every pearl, every "opportunity" to experience yet another facet of YOUR love for us!! And THANK YOU, sweet Red Tent sisters, for your open and willing hearts to share your walk...and help us all learn God's definition of HOPE!

Ok, so...what IS HOPE?

Terri beautifully defined "Biblical HOPE" in both her blog posts as well as reiterated it in class this week (in fact, if you haven't already done so, PLEASE revisit her POSTs on 11/14 and 11/15: HOPE and HOPE/Personal):

HOPE is NOT the mere desire for "something good" to happen. HOPE is not "wishing for the best" nor is it "crossing my fingers and hope hope hoping..." In fact, HOPE does NOT imply uncertainty nor lack of assurance.  

As Terri explained:
HOPE is a confident expectation and desire for something good in the future.  
Biblical HOPE not only desires something good for the future--it EXPECTS it to happen!
HOPE in God looks away from the limitations of this world (and of man) to the promises of GOD....It is the expectation of GREAT and AMAZING THINGS in His Kingdom willed by God Himself...for us!

I loved it when someone suddenly blurted out (almost as if surprised by the revelation!):
HOPE is a CHOICE and an ACTION upon that choice!

So. Awesome.

I also found it interesting when Terri mentioned that it is impossible to separate Faith and Hope (and Trust) because the verse I had chosen for the week speaks into this:

Now faith is the assurance of things HOPED for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) 
or in the NIV:
Now faith is being sure of what we HOPE for and certain of what we do not see.

A commentary I was reading stated:
"Faith includes HOPE but is more than that. Faith is the larger idea. Faith is our confidence in the Word of God (and in whatever HE says is true, including His nature, what has happened, is happening because of His nature); and whenever that word has reference to the future, we can call our confidence in it "HOPE". HOPE is FAITH in the future tense!"

One of my teachers used to distinguish between Faith and HOPE like this:

Faith is strong confidence in the reliability of God's Word (in the things HE states is true, in the totality of His "I AM".).
HOPE is strong confidence in the fulfillment of God's PROMISE (in all that will come from the "I AM" dwelling within me)

When I rely upon what God says--about Himself, about me, about others around me, about Him IN me and Him IN others around me, etc--I can stand upon the FAITH I have in His word (rhema) and in His Word (logos). It is that same confidence of FAITH that allows me to HOPE in HIS fulfillment of the promises I have yet to see but that I know are coming BECAUSE He dwells within me and in my every situation.

Selah on that thought for a while, ladies! Is it as powerful a Truth to anyone as it was to me?

Ok so...with all of this rolling around in my mind, I found that when I re-read the Scripture verses, my perspective of God's promises for me had suddenly, subtly, but surely become redefined, clarified and, well, hard-core powerful and more meaningful:

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a HOPE.

(wow...the expansiveness of that "hope" is now somehow...immense...solid...defined! Somehow, it takes on the very shape of...Christ!)

1 Peter 1:34
He has caused us to be born again to a LIVING HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; to an inheritance that is IMPERISHABLE, UNDEFILED and UNFADING, KEPT IN HEAVEN FOR YOU.

(whoa. Christ...again!)

Romans 15:13
May the God of HOPE fill you with ALL JOY AND PEACE IN BELIEVING, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, YOU MAY ABOUND IN HOPE.

(YES!! the abundance of HIS promises...the steadfastness of His Presence...the endurance of His love...it goes on and on and on, right?)

Romans 12:12
REJOICE IN HOPE, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer...

(What natural responses to real live HOPE (of everything that IS Christ dwelling within ME)--I can only respond with great rejoicing, steadfastness and willing perseverance, constant thanksgiving and praise!)

Lamentations 3:21-23
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have HOPE: the steadfast love of the Lord NEVER CEASES; His mercies NEVER COME TO AN END; THEY ARE NEW EVERY MORNING; GREAT IS YOUR FAITHFULNESS

(truly, these are ALL sources of great joy--and the foundation of my HOPE...the living Christ within me!)

Ok--enough for tonight! What about anyone else? I KNOW there were lots of thoughts rolling around in your hearts this week! Please share!