I am a Christian, a retired teacher, a mother and a grandmother. I love to read and I love the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless otherwise specified ,all visual illustrations are from the YOU VERSION APP of the Bible.
God truly desires to show us His love and compassion, but He is waiting patiently for us to come to Him and admit that we have a need. Knowing that God is a faithful God, once we take our needs before Him, then we must wait. But we know for absolutely certain that God’s help is on the way. It may not be what we expected but it will always be just what we needed just when we needed it.
I don’t get on scary rides at theme parks very often, but I have a couple of times, once when I was assured that it was a “mild rollercoaster.” Well, mild is not the word I would have used as the ride slung me from one side of the seat to another as I tightly grasped the bar in front of me. My hope was that the bar would hold me in my seat so that I didn’t tumble out into an unknown abyss.
Isn’t that what our hope in the Lord is all about? We hold tightly onto the hope that we have in Him, the sure knowledge that He is bigger than all our problems and that He will be with us through everything we face?
God is always faithful and always keeps His promises. We can count on Him not to move away from us and leave us hanging over the challenges that life tosses at us.
But there is another reason to hold onto hope. Others are watching us and how we react when the storms of life assail us. Do we behave like those around us, kicking and screaming about the unfairness of life? Or do we quietly pray and ask for God’s help to get through the situation or to remove it, whatever is best for us in the long run?
I want others to be glad to see me because they know that I put my hope in the Lord. How do they know that unless I have shown them through the faith that I live out daily? We are a walking testimony, either showing others the faith and hope that God has instilled in us or the fear and anger that man daily inputs into our lives. I choose faith and hope and pray that each of you does the same, knowing that others are always watching.
I screamed on the roller coaster and I even have a photo record of my terror. What would it be like if each time I face a new test in life, a photographer were to capture my reactions? That is certainly food for thought, isn’t it? May my reactions be consistently Godly, representing the Christ whom I serve!
I know that you have probably been on a roller coaster ride and your companion probably looked at you and said laughingly, “Hold on tight!” Well, that happened to me once and only once because I am not a fan of roller coasters. I hate the feeling of not being in control and hurtling around corners and down hills at a high rate of speed. My children had assured me that this particular coaster was very mild and I could check off my item on my bucket list about riding a roller coaster. (Actually, I don’t remember putting that particular item on there, but I was assured that it was there.) So, with much fanfare and hesitation, I rode the coaster, watched my husband’s eyes twinkle as he told me to hold on. I don’t remember much of the ride, just the terror and the screaming because my children’s idea of a mild ride was not the same as mine.
Sometimes I think that life can be like a roller coaster ride, with unexpected twists and turns, a slow move to the top of the hill and a death-defying plunge to the unknown at the bottom. Throughout life, God has always been there for me and never wavered, always reminding me to just hold on to Him. I may not know what is coming or how the future may affect me, but God does and He is always faithful. I don’t have to be afraid or anxious in any way because God is the one who has told me to hold on and He will do the rest!
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 