.. Hope deferred makes the heart sick.....

I lift my eyes up to the hills,

where does my help come from,

my help comes from the Lord,

the maker of Heaven and Earth.......

meditating on hope today, because like I found out .... deep inside a hopelessness exists which is detrimental to my health, my living for God, serving Him and being effective for Him..

this is one of the many scriptures a dear friend once gave me... and I needed to look at it again today... refresh my memory and pull this up again....

Show me your ways, O LORD, 
       

teach me your paths; 

guide me in your truth and teach me, 
       

for you are God my Savior, 
       

and my hope is in you all day long. 

Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, 
      

for they are from of old. 

Remember not the sins of my youth 
       

and my rebellious ways; 
       

according to your love remember me, 
       

for you are good, O LORD. 

Good and upright is the LORD; 
       

therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 

He guides the humble in what is right 
       

and teaches them his way. 

All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful 
       

for those who keep the demands of his covenant. 

my hope is in the Lord, my hope is in an eternity with Him, my hope is in Him finishing the work He has started in me, my hope is in Him giving me the strength and grace to deal with anything that comes my way, my hope is in His promises and the fact that He is faithful..

this hope results in rest for our souls, blessing, we will receive strength and courage, we will not be put to shame, we will be sustained, we will know God's delight, we won't be disappointed, faith and love will spring from this hope, we can endure, God will richly provide us with everything for our enjoyment, we will be greatly encouraged.....

how then, do we gain hope?

by choosing to remember God, and what He has done in the past, Praising Him for what He has done, we can ask for hope and He won't hold it back, knowing and trusting in His promises, knowing God's character, engaging and meditating on His Word, choosing to be joyful, enduring and being patient......

as I am writing this, all truths that are based on scriptures that tell us about hope, I am convicted again that at the bottom of my hopelessness, not in God and what He can do, but hopelessness in regards to me living the blessing out each day, is rooted in a distrust in God's goodness.... I was not aware that this is still going on, and even those that know me wouldn't think that.. and yet, it is true.. so I need to go to my God and confess that somehow I doubt His Goodness towards me in my daily life here.... just for me and my "human" desires.......  because if I don't do that... that's what will continue to happen:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12...

and there needs to be end to all this.. :)

My life is in You, Lord 

My strength is in You, Lord 

My hope is in You, Lord 

In You, it's in you 

I will praise You with all of my life 

I will praise You with all of my strength 

With all of my life 

With all of my strength 

All of my hope is in You!