New beginnings...renewed hope!

This week's memory verse:
"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." -- Psalm 27:13

Have you ever watched a child try something over and over until they do it...like riding a bike? Take those training wheels off and his balance is unsteady and he falls. It hurts, but he sees his big brother and his friends riding every day, so it can't be THAT hard! He tries again...and again until he finds himself peddling downs the sidewalk. 

That little boy had hope (as well as will and determination) that he could ride that bike, even though he failed many times.

Author Carol Lewis writes, "You and I have DNA that is hard-wired for hope.  No other living, breathing creature, except humans, was created to have hope...None of us can survive long without hope."

God MADE us to have hope. Read Psalm 33:20-22.

God, our Lord, is described as our help and our shield. He shields us, or protects us, even from ourselves. And when we ask him to, he helps us. Those verses go on to use four action words for us...they aren't always easy words, but they give us something to reach for.
Wait (in hope)
Rejoice (in our hearts)
Trust (in his holy name)
Put (our hope in God)

How can we do those four things? How can we have hope when our world seems dark and scary and we can't seem to do anything right? 

Verse 22 says that God's love is unfailing...he never fails to love us. We fail every day...several times a day. But God NEVER stops loving us! 

Knowing that...believing that...holding on to that...THAT is what gives me hope and allows me to pick myself up every time I fail and try again. When the world knocks me down or something scary happens...THAT HOPE allows me to keep going. 

If keeping that hope makes me sound foolish amid that dark world...I don't care! One day I WILL see the blessed results of that hope! We NEED hope to keep trying. We NEED to hang on to that unfailing love, even though we don't deserve it. 

This is a week of new beginnings for many students and teachers and school employees. Keep hope in your hearts this week. WAIT in hope for God to do great things...Let your hearts REJOICE in God and this new beginning...TRUST in the Lord and PUT your hope in him! Things won't be easy, but you can keep trying every day!