Sunday, December 10, 2006

Love Hopes All Things

The essay below was written by me about 4 years ago and was published in our church's devotional:

Love Hopes All Things

It was 2 o’clock in the morning. I was on bed tossing and turning. My heart was anxious and my head was spinning. I was worried about our son. He’s just 5 and he’s already having problems at school.

It’s almost 3 o’clock. I still could not sleep. Whispering, I prayed “God, what future does my son hold? Show us how we can help him” I did not hear an audible answer. But in the stillness of the night I knew the Lord had spoken and said “For I know the plans I have for Gardner…plans of good and not of evil…to give him a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). With these comforting words, I went to sleep.

The scene above happened several years ago…and I from that, I’ve learned to appreciate this aspect of love that I’ve not focused on before: hope!

More than anyone, God knows the depth of my love for my son Gardner. And on that night, God reminded me that He loves Gardner so much more than I possibly can! After that prayer, God has been showing us each day his wonderful plan. Hope unfolds every step that leads to Gardner’s bright future. No longer am I anxious. Instead, love has taken away my fears. Yes, there are times when I still worry, but I have learned to turn my worries into prayers and the result is a tremendous hope!

This is the power of love. It is fueled and sustained not by an ever-changing emotional or physical state, but by deep beliefs and hopes that are given by God to those who trust Him. Real love has a capacity to view life – and live with it – with an optimism that is refreshing because of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col:27)

Real love can hope because of what God can do in a person’s life. Love…hopes all things.

2 comments:

Patti said...

I loved you post! I try to pray and turn things over but I have so much time letting go!

Liza on Maui said...

Thanks Patti. I wrote this article for our church devotion. We were doing a study on Love and I was asked to elaborate on the verse "Love Hopes All Things".

I too do have a hard time letting go of some stuff in some areas in my life even after I prayed. We just need to persevere and keep on giving it back to God :)