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| 31 Dec 2008Elaine Bonds, She Speaks Graduate“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)
I remember it so well – the night I lost all hope. I had been hoping that my prodigal son was not lying to me. While I was 99% sure he was, I still clung to the 1% chance he was telling the truth. My heart simply refused to give up that final thread of hope. As a condition of living in our home again, we asked that our 21-year old son attend a weekly support group meeting. We wanted him back home; his other living choice was not a good one. But we needed to establish boundaries , offering a safe place to live without tolerating or enabling his destructive behavior. We wanted to start rebuilding the trust we had lost. One building block was his Friday night support group meeting. Though our son said he was attending, in my heart I felt something was wrong. One night I just had to know if he was living up to his commitment. I drove to the place where his meeting was held and my fears were confirmed: he was nowhere to be found. I went right home and waited. When he came home I asked about his meeting. “The meeting was fine. I’m tired and going to bed.” I had caught him in a lie! Hope left me and discouragement came quickly to replace it. I couldn’t even confront him – at least not yet. I needed time to wrestle with the loss of the 1% of hope. It was just a tiny bit of hope. No big loss, right? … Wrong! That last 1% of hope is what I held onto the tightest. I was so angry and crushed. But then, God spoke. He cho se a friend to speak His Words to me the very next day. She had no clue what was happening with our son. She just prayed what God prompted her -- for me to have HOPE! She emailed me her prayer: “Father, You are the God of all hope. Your Word tells us that those who hope in You will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, and they will walk and not be faint. I pray this for Elaine this morning … that she will place her HOPE in You and You alone …”Reading her prayer, it suddenly became clear to me. My hope had been in my son and in that weekly meeting. The hope I had lost – that 1% I’d been clinging to – was human hope. That kind of hope is in limited quantity, and when it runs out, you are left drained, discouraged, disappointed and …hopeless! Oh, it may masquerade as “hope,” but it is completely different from the hope that God provides. God’s hope renews and refreshes. It empowers, uplifts, and strengthens. God’s hope does not disappoint! There is an unlimited supply of God’s hope. God knew I had been clinging to human hope, and He knew that last 1% of weak, feeble hope would run out. He wanted me to cling to Him, the God of true, lasting, unlimited hope. So, as I wiped my tears, I waited as the winds of God’s hope blew my way. My circumstances were still the same, but my heart was now filled with the hope that only God can provide. Dear Lord, Thank You for Your wonderful, everlasting hope. Please help me always put my hope in You and You alone. Thank You that with You all things are possible. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.Related Resources:
Do you know the Giver of hope?
Divine Prayers for Despairing Parents by Susanne Scheppmann Finding Hope in the Midst of Depression by Mary Southerland Join us for more Everyday Life EncouragementApplication Steps:
Pray today about a situation you’ve considered hopeless. Ask God to give you His perspective and His hope.
Reflections:
Ask God to reveal where you are placing your hope. Are you hoping in your husband, your bank account, your job, a program, a promise from someone? Or, are you truly placing your hope in the Lord?
Let 2009 be a year that you place your hope in God alone.
Power Verses:
Psalm 42:5, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” (NIV)
Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (NIV)
Psalm 147:11, “The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.” (NIV)
© 2008 by Elaine Bonds. All rights reserved.
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Proverbs 31 Ministries
616-G Matthews-Mint Hill Road, Matthews, NC 28105
877-P31-HOME (877-731-4663) | | |
| Just got back from the East coast trip with mom. We went to lots of places, including Canada and Atlanta. I can't believe there are so many interesting places in Canada. I would love to visit Ottowa, Montreal, Ontario and Quebec city again. They're beautiful! It was also lovely to see grandma, Auntie Amy, Ashley, Auntie Sylva, Uncle Nino, Sergio and Sylvina. It got to be a long time since the last time I've seen them. This time, I finally got to see them clearly. Atlanta changed alot. In my memories, it was an empty and quiet place with nothing there. Now there are more people living there and more stores and places to go. It's not so bad living there now, and it really charged me up after all the stressful condition in SF. I started to think Atlanta can really be my santuary next time, where I can retreat back for recharging next time. Sergio is getting married next year. Wow... and he picked 8/8/08 too... I'll definitely fly there next year to witness his important day. And Sylvina!! She's so beautiful now and so ladylike and so artistic and so talented!! But the most important and happiest thing is that she's a Christian now too!! We also got a chance to talk. I know how hard it must be for her. It's hard to stay spiritually strong when there's not much support around her. Got to pray for her more often. Kevin is moving up next week. Suki and I are flying down tomorrow, can't wait. | | |
| just got back from life retreat... it was an amazing retreat... praise the Lord
our theme was "humility and gentleness"
not only built a stronger bond with bro and sis in fellowship, also worked out some old old problems...
this is really a good retreat... thanx God | | |
| So happy~ after leaving in this bedroom for 10 years, finally giving it a new look~
changed the curtain's color and giving it some color, then adding a thin layer of white curtain at the back.. giving
the room a dreamy feel >o<
hanging the glass with the lavender that suki gave in the middle of the window... wow~~~ then exchanged the bookshelves with my brother and moved the direction of my bed
went to ikea and bought a sofa bed, now when friends come, they'll have place to sit ^^ now... i just need to file all the binders and books... maybe hang some pictures on the wall... wala~~~ new bedroom hahah ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ one day when i came home, my dad told me there's a mouse came into our house. he thinks it's only in the garage or the ground floor, it won't go upstairs.... by midnight i've already forgotten all about it... and was watching tv... suddenly i saw smth ran under my desk AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ it was the mouse that dad talked about........ i ran to my parents' room and yelled "MOUSE!!!!" my whole family woke up and went into my room and tried to catch the mouse....
it was a long time since they do one thing together........--____-- finally my brother used the shoebox and caught the mouse... thank God.... but then on friday, when i told my fellowship ppl... they said...
"Mouse doesn't come in one... there must be a bunch of them..." Oh.........no.......... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kevin came to visit me last weekend....... so happy to see him...
we had BS on friday fellowship then he helped me share msg in the Chinese school and led singspiration in LWF (children's fellowship)
it's so fun serving Lord with him... really look forward to the future... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This weekend, starting today, LWF and its teachers are going to a retreat..... since they invited the youths too...
so i'm also going.... i should be very excited but thinking that monday school will start... i just can't be exciting anymore... just pray the kids would learn and have fun.... and pray that the teachers would have enough energy and health... i've already been feeling the mucus and cough are coming.......... | | |
| Exodus 21:2-6; Deuteronomy 15:16-17 Life as a slave to a kind master was often better than freedom in abject poverty. "A Slave to Sin" or "A Slave to Righteousness"? | | |
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