Home is Right Next Door

The dreary, seemingly sunless and colorless days that accompany January and February waltz right in after the most wonderful time of the year suddenly comes to a close. They don't wait for an invitation, they just show up unannounced, often delivering a bushel of hopelessness and discouragement. I'm one of those who tends to recieve the free bushels of hopelessness and discouragement that January and February offer, so I have to be very intentional to mark them "return to sender" and send them right back to where they came from.

Because I know this about myself, I was more than excited to join with Katie Orr and the Bible Study Hub for her study "Everyday Hope". The timing was perfect. And because I know that I am not alone in these feelings, I wanted to share a small part of what I'm learning this week with you.

The theme of this week's study was "Hope is My Lighthouse" and we #FOCUSed on Ephesians 1:15-22. Here's a portion of that scripture:

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling.
(from verse 18)

He has a calling, an invitation for you to embrace your salvation. I am learning much these days, but one thing He is reminding me of is that I often find myself feeling hopeless because I have forgotten to embrace my salvation in the moment that is causing me struggle or pain. I forget what I have been saved from and forget what lies ahead, only remembering how uncomfortable right now is.

Right now doesn't change your destination or your inheritance, my friend. We have to KNOW that in the difficult moments.

In the midst of storms and choppy seas, He and His message shine as a lighthouse, and that is where we must look, and what we must continue to move toward. We cannot see right now what is in store when we finally reach the destination, we've not seen a picture of our inheritance, we've not received post cards from loved ones who are there telling us how wonderful it is, and I think that's why we sometimes forget our hope.

But that's also an opportunity to exercise our faith.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1

Hope is a noun. Not a verb. It is not something we try harder for, it is something we cling to. Are you sure, sweet friend, of what you hope unto? My assurance of how real my hope is comes forth as the fruit of my faith on those hopeless days.

Keep moving toward the Lighthouse, allowing the message of His word, His love, the truth of the Gospel to be the shining light on stormy seas. I really liked what Katie said on our teaching video for this week:

As I pondered the way life crashes on us and that the Lighthouse is always shining, regardless of how much storm was in front of it, I was reminded of the beautiful ligthouse I saw this past spring at Tybee Island. The colors of the lighthouse and it's surroundings were so crisp and vivid.

It. Was. Beautiful.

There were little houses all around the lighthouse, but if you were looking from far away, particularly by land or sea, you would only be able to glimpse the lighthouse, not it's surroundings. It was only when I was close that I could see how big the lighthouse really was and all that was near it. From the waters you only see the lighthouse, but once you're on land, the buildings are just beyond it, on the opposite side of the waters that sometimes rage.

No matter how much the boat is rocking and the waves are crashing, keep on for the Lighthouse. No, we can't see with our eyes what is beyond the Lighthouse, but what we KNOW is that He teaches us there is an eternity of a vast inheritance with no pain or sorrow once we reach that shore. We can't see it, but Home is right next door. Right next door to the message that we follow are the comforts and joy of eternity.

Hope is our lighthouse.

Hold fast.

This will all be over and what to come is VERY REAL. Let's face this week refusing to let the choppy waters dictate our hope.

XOXO.


I'm linking up with Katie Orr, find more posts about Everyday Hope information about here studies here