Here's hoping.

Even in the book of Lamentations, a book whose very title is indicative of human struggles, there is hope. In the darkest thoughts of God rejecting us, before we were saved by Jesus Christ, there is still hope.

Lamentations 3:19-24
"The thought of my pain, my homelessness, is bitter poison; I think of it constantly and my spirit is depressed. Yet hope remains when I remember this one thing: The Lord's unfailing love and mercy still continue, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. The Lord is all I have, and so I put my hope in Him."

This reminds me that I have to remember where Hope is, that once I have lost sight of it, it is not unrecoverable.

It might look like I'm surrounded, but I'm surrounded by You. This is how I fight my battles.

Introduced to me this past weekend, the song Surrounded (Fight my battles) by Elyssa Smith has been playing on repeat in my head and heart ever since.

I have been singing it like a war cry at church, I've been humming it around work, whispering it softly as I'm commuting. There is something empowering about declaring that our worship is how we fight our battles. How praise is not only a way to honour God and find comfort without getting comfortable, but a weapon in the warfare of living by following Jesus.

 I have also been reminded the worship isn't solely limited by musical worship, but by the utilizing of the gifting that God has imparted in us, by outpouring it especially into the secular world, is showing worship and obedience to God. So many of us choose to ignore or fail to accommodate those passions which spark joy and fulfillment because we feel stagnant and unworthy or even a little bit rebellious to our own nature. These passions give us the sense of fulfillment because we are fulfilling our purpose through that gift for that time. And when we see purpose we are renewed in our hope.

This week I pray that we  have hope more tangible than the stars, because even when it is cloudy or the lights of this world are too bright to see them, we never forget that the are present.

Have an awesome day, and remember how God can lift your head if you remember to praise Him.


Surrounded (Fight my Battles) https://songselect.ccli.com/Songs/7098758