Wow, it's November!

i can't believe it's been a month since i last wrote. time is slipping away quickly.

today i was teaching; the topic was about having a hopeful heart. i have been struggling for the past couple of days with the subject because i'm having a hard time feeling hopeful myself.

but here's what i learned today...

• hope is not some random wishing, at least not if i am a follower of Jesus - he is the place where i put my hope
• putting my hope in God means i have to trust that he really is good, that he loves me, that he is in control
• is God trustworthy? his track record suggests that he is - all through the OT and the NT god continually saved his people despite their propensity to forget him and to do things on their own strength; and the ultimate provision was his own death
• i can't be trusted to remember that God is trustworthy - i an too easily overwhelmed by whatever state i happen to find myself in and so i need others who will remind me that God has been faithful to me in the past and that he will see me through the muck of life - even if i can't see a way through it
• and maybe most importantly, i learned that it is HARD to hope

hmm, but you know, even in all of this i see the faithfulness of God because he gave me all of this (and more) to share with the women in the class today...when i didn't think i had hope for myself, much less to share with anyone else.

**sigh**