Sometimes I feel like I have this kind of “childlike hope” that is somewhat hidden within me…
And I want to hang onto it with everything I’ve got, in spite of all the reports of things happening around us.
On one hand I feel like a child and this hope is bursting within me, and on the other hand, the “grown up” side of me wants to keep it hidden and “protected” from being crushed, because it feels rather vulnerable…
I had a dream a little while back where I was a child, and we were waiting on Jesus to come to visit us at our home, and after much preparation time…. He arrived later in the evening after us kids had to go on to bed… and it was the most tender, beautiful moment when He finally came —He even made a point to come see us kids, even after we already had to go on to bed (like kids who had to go on to bed because it was bedtime, but still wide awake— kind of like kids waiting and listening for Santa to come, if I can explain it that way just to have something to compare the giddiness of the moment to.)
I won’t go into the whole dream, but I can hardly explain how I felt as He finally arrived, and we saw Him…when He walked into our room… I was overcome and choked up with a mix of relief, and excitement, and joy and surprise, and giddiness, and the feeling of being loved and special to Him…and I got to see Him in this dream, and He reached out and so tenderly and lovingly greeted us by reaching out His hands toward us to embrace—a kind of greeting that we somehow knew and understood….and I just remember the softness and the tenderness of His hands…
But there is this giddiness from the hope that I have in Him, and when looking at it from a “grown up” perspective, or perhaps from the worldly perspective, it seems rather “unreasonable” and childlike that it almost makes me feel a little uneasy that it’s there to be quite honest.
But it’s there. ?✨
And it almost makes me feel as though I need to “protect” this little childlike flame of hope that’s in there inside of me… as though I can’t bear to let it be crushed or destroyed.
I want to hang into it with everything that I’ve got. ?
I do not know what His way will look like in the earth, I don’t know what I’ll see with my physical eyes, exactly… but I know that as His child, I am safe to embrace this passionate hope in Him!
I get to be excited, and I get to stay excited….like a child, giddy with excitement and hope…
…and yet I can be honest with Him about the struggle I also have as an “adult” who has become a little afraid of being vulnerably and showing it too much.
But this morning, I am reminded, that we always get to “get our hopes up” in the Lord.
It may not always play out in the way we imagined we would see with our eyes, it may not always be in the timing we prefer, but we always, always get to “get our hopes up” in our Lord.
He’s got a good plan. We can hope in Him, regardless of what things may look like, however things seem to be going, we can always keep our hopes high in Him!
Do you know that He knows it when our hopes are high in our hearts, in spite of the “risk”….even if it could be seemingly “risky to hope”? He knows it, and I believe that it’s dear to His heart when we have our hopes high in Him, like a little child who says…
“…“Look at what’s happened! This is our God! We waited for him and he showed up and saved us! This God, the one we waited for! Let’s celebrate, sing the joys of his salvation.” – Isaiah 25:9 The Message
“And it will be said in that day: “Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” —Isaiah 25:9 NKJV
Thank You, Jesus, for keeping Your promises. Thank You that we get to always keep our hopes high in You, no matter what things around us look like, no matter what circumstances my feel like. We always get to confidently, and “vulnerably” cling to our hope in You!
-Heather ?