From Steadfast Hope… to Empowerment

"So, my dear brothers, since future victory is sure,

be strong and steady, always abounding in the Lord’s work..." 1 Corinthians 15:58 

 
Last year (2014) my word was steadfast. This year’s has been hope.

Steadfast kept me going forward, not giving up, pressing on, unwavering, resolute, committed… and I did. By the strength of the Lord, the stresses of moving twice in 18 months and losing two brothers—mine & my husband’s—within 3 days, I did not fall completely apart.

However…

I crawled the rest of the way up the mountain of my not-normal-not-normal life of the past 3 years. After my brother’s death, our then 83-year-old mom knew she needed to sell the 3,000 sq ft house on the 10 acres she and my dad and my grandmother had bought and built 40+ years earlier. My brother and his wife had come to live in the house about 8 years prior as his health declined, first with heart issues and then lung cancer. So, after his passing, my sister and I along with our husbands began the task of sorting, downsizing, and repairing the place. (We couldn’t begin until after his passing because it was too upsetting to him—like we were pushing him to his grave.)

 

For me to help with the giant task, I had to drive 500 miles one way several times throughout the year. It required me to stay a week or two at a time; sometimes with my husband, but often without. My main focus of help was household items—getting Mom to understand that she won’t need all of them or have room in a small apartment—and to arrange for the actual sale of the acreage. And in the middle of this project, we moved from Billings to Denver, from one house to another. To say it was wearing to my body and soul is an understatement. Driving all those miles, being away from my husband several times throughout the year, and simultaneously moving into our newest home was mentally, physically, and emotionally grueling.

And so, my hope waned

Hope became my handhold this year.

Hope = confident expectations 

Hope = optimism

Hope requires courage and faith, great anticipation and aspiration.

Together, steadfast hope gave me strength for this journey. I give Jesus Christ all the glory for such strength…for His loving arms standing at the end of the tunnel. The ultimate hope of Heaven. The steadfast assurance of His faithfulness.

Of late, and possibly my word for 2016, God has reminded me of His empowerment for victory!  The empowerment of His Holy Spirit authority living within me.

During the last two months of my crawl to the mountaintop, I went and saw the movie, “War Room” (I cannot recommend it enough). I am now reading one of several books relating to the movie, designed to empower God’s people to pray strategically… a battle plan for offensive praying for triumph rather than as defensive protection to survive the war... in the name of Jesus

Whatever… in His Name ~

“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, 

so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 

If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:12-14 nasb

 

 There is Power in the Name of Jesus - Lincoln Brewster

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