Dear Beloved,
This week someone close to me experienced some serious tragedy. It was bad. The reality of her grief and pain caused me grief and pain. First, I was in shock and trying to be as present as I could be with her. Then hours later, when we held a prayer call for her, the tears of grief hit me. When I got off the call, all I wanted to do was call someone and cry and process. So I did. (This is huge for me because my past self would've suppressed and isolated, praise God for emotional healing).
Beloved, please know that hope is not the absence of sadness. It is the pillar and foundation of endurance. To finish the race of life, one must have hope. To make it to heaven, one must have hope in Jesus Christ. I pray you both. I still have sadness today, but I have more hope, then I did yesterday. After I got off the phone with no else to call, though I wish I had others, I felt Holy Spirit say, "talk to me". I started singing a worship song and then another. Then I went to the Book of Psalms, the book that validates pain and emotion.
I started off in Psalm 6, then to Psalm 42, then Psalm 145-150. By the end, I felt my hope comin. The circumstance hadn't changed, but I was reminded that God hadn't either. His works of old were good and so were the ones of TODAY. I once read a quote in the book The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom that said "Heaven never panics". I was reminded of that yesterday. It wasn't to dismiss the horrific situation, but a reminder that God is still in control in the midst of what feels chaotic.
If you're in the midst of tragedy as well, I pray you feel your feelings while drawing to Christ for hope. When everything is out of your control, drawing near to the one who has control gives you the hope needed to endure another day. Although these trials freaking suck and are massively painful, they do not last forever. In eternity pain will be a distant memory and every tear will be wiped away. If you've surrendered your life to Christ, this will be your future. If you haven't, know that the Lord has been pursuing you for a long time and He's using THIS HOPE LETTER to speak to you. No matter when you read this, HE IS CALLING YOU. I haven't written a Hope Letter in 2 years, but He strongly urged me to write this one.
There is ONE God who created all the universe. He is the great I AM. His intention was for all his creation to be one with Him, in glory separate from pain and angst. He gave mankind full authority in the earth and free access to everything, except one thing: the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But through man's (Adam's) sin of pride, greed, and lust, the ONE commandment given (stay away from the tree) was broken and in that moment God's relationship was broken between mankind. You and me were born in sin. We know we've sinned. We've gone against what we've known to be right and that has caused a void in our hearts that can't be filled by relationships, money, power, or fame. ONLY God, the one true God who created us can fill it. It's impossible for us to be holy on our own, our lust for self and sin won't ever allow us to do right by heaven. With this, God decided to stand in for our weakness. He being perfect and sinless cannot be connected to sin, which we're covered in. But, The Father WANTS to reconnect with us.
We're His creation, He doesn't want to spend eternity separated from us when we die. So, He made a way. In His divine love, He came down from heaven through His son Jesus Christ and took the punishment of sin that we deserved. Our sin deserves God's wrath and separation from Him, but Christ took the wrath and separation for us through the crucifixion. He died and was buried in the grave and 3 days later he rose again, proving his deity! The blood he shed on that cross was the price paid for salvation and forgiveness of sin. You don't have to carry the guilt and shame of your sin. You don't have to live with the void in your heart. God made a way for you to reconnect, receive forgiveness and have your slate wiped clean! This is the Gospel and good news of Christ. If you truly believe that Jesus Christ is God and he died and rose again for your sins, then recite the prayer below OUTLOUD and you will be saved!
Lord Jesus, I believe you died and rose again for my sins and I ask you for forgiveness. I repent of all sin and ask you to renew my mind and clean my heart. I give you full control of my life. Please show me how to walk in righteousness, in Jesus name I pray Amen.
Praise the Lord my new brother/sister in Christ!! Now go and watch this video to learn what's next!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzZ-m8C9hsA&list=PLmtSnLV8O89pDosLdVKT234erqFjJJNx-
May your hope be in Jesus Christ,
Anreka
