Where's my Hope?

I want to apologize to you for the HOPE-less-ness of my last post.  In fact this is something about which God has been speaking to me...correcting me and enlarging my view of Himself....showing me that despair and anxiety and fear have no place in the heart of a believer...or rather no place, after God chastens and grows us into a more complete understanding of Him.  Please understand me.  I know that anxiety and fear and despair ALL are wars which are waged against the mind of a mentally ill person.  I understand this because I myself am mentally ill and also struggle with them.  In fact that is why what I'm about too share with you, is so incredibly important to me in those very battles.

I have spoken to you in past posts about my struggles with fear in terms of hurricanes, blizzards (such as we experienced this past April), etc. mostly due to the flooding in our basement which resulted from a hurricane.  This week we are being deluged by buckets of rain.  So of course my "go-to" responses are fear and anxiety.

Well this morning God began "heavenly hi-lighting" some verses that I encountered today all within an hour or two and there was one word that kept popping up: HOPE. In fact the three remaining qualities that we are promised to experience in the Kingdom are listed in 1 Cor 13:13--

"Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love."  

I have heard it explained that Love is greater than the other two qualities because once we are in the Kingdom of Heaven, we will no longer NEED faith and hope because all of the promises that Faith and hope foreshadow, will all be realized in Heaven.  But actually now, although I'd accepted that theory in the past, I have to take issue  with it now.  It says these "things will last forever."  Ummmm. "Even in Heaven when we no longer need them?"  If a child is lives in a comfortable home with loving parents...even though that child has everything he or she needs, he will still leap out of bed at 5:00 AM on Christmas to see what new delights await.  Well, friend, that is where hope plays into our experience of Heaven. 

And also let me tell you that a child has faith in his father to turn on the lights in a scary dark night even though he is in his own home and he has full access to daddy. His faith in daddy to chase away the terrors or just to live up to that child's expectation that Abba Daddy will meet every need, tells me that Faith also will still be an eternal characteristic of our resurrected lives.  And what lies behind that faith and hope?  LOVE!  

Therefore, Love is the greatest of these because they spring from the Father's love for His kids. Love is the source....the main ingredient of the faith/hope cake God is baking here.

Many of the verses I encountered today linked up hope as a consequence of God's love for us. For example, Psalm 33:22 says:

Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord,
    for our hope is in you alone.
 In fact, one of the main themes of Psalm 33 is Hope.  Pull out your Bible and read it or click here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+33&version=NLT

So what does "hope" mean?  It has two meanings (at least) ...one being: to have complete confidence in someone or something in their ability and willingness to carry out a task or fulfill a promise. And it means to look forward eagerly to something wonderful. 

And if the basis of your hope proves faithful and capable, then the result is more hope and greater faith and ultimately love will be born...and it's a two way love: love from the hand of our Father as he proves to be faithful and good....will cause us to have an every deepening hope and trust.

And what is the result in our experience and in our character as a result of this loving creation of hope in us?  It is to be fear-free.  Care-free. Anxiety free. Despair-free.  And if we live in the frequent experience of fear, worry and anxiety then there is some kind of problem blocking the flow of God's love toward us (and that problem is ours not God's.)  Or maybe you, like me, suffer from spiritual PTSD based on past rebellions, wrong views of God, hurts from God's people (still sinning) against us...There are a number of things, including chemical imbalances in the brain, which can be the cause of the peace of God not resting in us.

I do think that if you look toward the future with fear and trepidation, as this earth appears to be hurtling off its axis with trauma and tragedy, that you really could benefit from spending some time journaling about what it is you fear....and looking at that from God's viewpoint. What is your big misunderstanding of the character of God and his love toward you? Do these old scars have any bearing on the person you now are in Christ?  Maybe you need to reflect on the facts of who God is and who you are as a result.  I would counsel you to really spend some time in prayer before these journaling sessions and in your reading of Scripture. (and if you don't regularly read Scripture then that may be your problem in a nutshell.  How do you expect answers from God when you won't allow him to speak???

For myself where do I stand?
For those of  you who know about my situation, you know that I face an uncertain future.  (But then don't we all in one way or another?)   I think I need to revisit my list of how God has miraculously met my needs in the past.  How he has provided, protected, loved and carried me through some brutally difficult times.  And through it all he has assured me of his love for me and I have never had a true need go unmet.  Never.  And that is an astoundingly wonderful God. 

Throughout Scripture God has over and over stressed the need for us to "remember" his words and his character and his miraculous actions as well as his words.  PREACH these to yourself with a list of evidences you have of things for which you are grateful. Talk about it with your children.  Review it daily until it becomes part of you.  And once you begin to see his faithfulness and the power of his love for you, the clouds will lift.  Your fear will abate... and hope will flood your soul.  We have a wonderful future coming soon...for those who  are his children and who are heading for Heaven...Realize it is something to look forward to more than that child's anticipation of Christmas.

(written shortly after: I want to apologize if I made it sound like mental illness can be gotten rid of merely by thinking our way out of it.  I cannot "think" myself out of Schizophrenia any more than you can think your way out of anxiety.  However, God is Lord of all --and he is a healer and provider. He does not always heal ...but he does promise us to meet all of our needs in Christ Jesus...and I know that anxiety does respond to a healthy dose of Heaven's medicine.  Habits are mentally and physically ingrained in our brains.  Patterns of thought can lead us to wrong responses.  Just as healthy patterns can "re-wire" the brain and lead us to better places.  Look at the books by Dr Caroline Leaf for more on this.) 
Be blessed today.
Here is a link to the article on CBN's website where I read that great article on hope.
http://www1.cbn.com/devotions/hope-is-real?cid=EU_BIAYDEVO-PROD_DM7252&bid=101596174