Finding HOPE in the New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The last few years I've chosen a word to sort of embody the new year. I try not to simply pick a word I like, but rather a word that is on my heart and in my spirit. A word I need to learn more about, to really dig into.

2017 was a year of TRUST. On January 1st I wrote that word on a rock I found on the property in Texas where we were living and working. I also included the scripture reference I felt God had given me to remind me to trust Him: "Taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who trusteth in Him." (Psalm 34:8) I had several things in mind that I needed to trust him for and set about praying for them. As you may have guessed, they were NOT the things I truly needed to trust God with. In August of that year we lost our jobs. We spent the next eight weeks learning to trust God's plan and His provision. Our faithful Father knew what our future held when I chose the word Trust, and He taught us that no matter what challenges we face in life, we are His children. In October we left Texas and moved to Tennessee to begin our new jobs working as Caretakers of a beautiful farm owned by a beautiful widow who truly loves and appreciates us. I look back on 2017 with joy and gladness of heart because I learned the deeper meaning of trust.

2018 was a year of REST. After all the excitement and stress of 2017, I needed rest. Rest of body. Rest of mind. And rest of soul. I claimed Hebrews 4 in the Message Bible for the new year. The word "rest" appears in this passage ten times! King David also spoke of rest in Psalm 62:1 & 5: "My soul finds rest in God alone; my hope comes from him." I learned that rest doesn't mean being lazy and laying around. It means pausing from life's worries and busyness to remember that God is God and we are not. We can safely rest in Him and His love.

Because I rested so well in the LORD through 2018, I find myself raring to go in 2019! As I pondered what word to chose, I kept coming back to Expectation. While we were in Texas over the Christmas holiday, we took our boys to the coast for a family vacation. I found a sweet little rock on the beach that would be perfect for my word of the year, and suddenly I knew what it was: HOPE. The definition of hope is "a feeling of expectation and a desire for a certain thing to happen; to expect with confidence; trust. I don't know exactly what I'm expecting, but I know it will be good. God is our Father and He loves pouring out blessings on his children. Yes, he also disciplines when we go astray and disobey, but His heart is that of a loving Daddy, our Abba. He already knows what 2019 holds, so I'm heading into it with expectation--with hope!--willing to go wherever He leads.

My heart's prayer for 2019 for myself and for you is found in one of my favorite verses:

"May the God of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

Blessings to you and yours in the New Year!

~Michelle

P.S. Here are some more of my favorite verses that talk about Hope:

Psalm 33:18-22
Jeremiah 29:11
Psalm 42:11
Isaiah 40:31
Hebrews 11:1
Hebrews 10:23

I was on my way to Heaven this morning...

As a general rule, I don't share my dreams with anyone but my husband. And even then, I only share the ones that even remotely make sense. Typically, my dreams are usually so bizarre, so convoluted, that I can't begin to describe them, let alone make any sense out of them. I broke my hard and fast rule a couple weeks ago when I shared a dream I'd had with a friend. It was about her husband. He was either going to be attacked by the toy Mexican soldiers I'd recently seen at the Alamo, or the potatoes we'd had the previous night were on the questionable side. I'm going with the potatoes.

But today I'm going to share a dream I had just before waking this morning. It was pretty amazing, considering how crazy my dreams usually are. I'm still in awe of what I experienced, if only for a brief few moments in my sleep.

I was standing inside a house, although I'm not sure whose, in a bedroom with the windows open. All of a sudden, the wind started blowing outside. The curtains--white curtains--started fluttering and flapping. The wind increased, growing stronger and stronger. It must be a storm, I thought.

Next in the dream, I'm standing outside in a field, a powerful wind like nothing I've ever experienced whipping around me. My hair is blowing, and the bathrobe I'm wearing (why I'm wearing a bathrobe, I have no idea) is billowing around my ankles. I look up, but there aren't any dark clouds. It seems like there were some white puffy clouds and blue sky, but I can't be sure. The wind grew fierce and I could hardly stand against it. "It's a tornado!" I said. Fear gripped me.

The wind was so incredibly strong. Strong enough that I began to be lifted off the ground. At first I thought I should try to grab hold of something. There was a chain link fence with a gate nearby. I reached for it, but I couldn't grasp it. I was already a couple feet in the air. The feeling of being suspended off the ground was unreal!

And then this overwhelming peace engulfed me. 

It was not a tornado. I looked up, and I knew! I knew! I was going Home! I was Heaven-bound! The sound of singing voices were everywhere, although I couldn't see anyone. I almost expected to hear the Trumpet sounding. I was ecstatic! I was looking up, and laughing, and--

Yank!!

Something yanked me and kept me from going any higher. I looked down and saw that the belt of that darn bathrobe had snagged on the fence. I struggled to get the robe off, my fingers pulling at the knot on the belt at my waist. I wiggled and squirmed to get out of it. I wanted to go higher! I had to get out of it!

That's when I woke up.

Man, can you say disappointed?! I so, so wanted to keep going!

Unlike Daniel, I don't have an interpretation for this dream. I have no clue what it means. Maybe I'm going Home soon. Maybe not. Maybe the Lord is coming back for all of us soon. Maybe not. Maybe the bathrobe and fence represent the world, yanking on us, keeping us from all the good things God has for us in heaven. Maybe not. I've never had a dream like it before. One thing I do know is, I'm ready! I'm ready to go Home whenever the Lord calls me. Sure, I'd like to stick around and make sure my boys are settled with wonderful Christian wives someday. I'd really love to be a Grandma, too. And I don't know how my husband would make it in this world without me. (ha)

Bottom line, though, each of us has a timetable already in place. An exit strategy, if you will. This world with all its worries and cares, highs and low, tears and joy, is not our home and was never meant to be. Our Home is perfect. Our Home is with God. And I'm pretty sure I was headed there in my dreams this morning. That song Cinderella sings in the Disney movie that goes, "A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you're fast asleep" is definitely true for me!

I'll leave you with one of my favorite songs these days, "The Only Name" by Big Daddy Weave. One day I will wake up in the Land of Glory.

And you better believe I won't be wearing a bathrobe!

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This week's Prayer Shout Out Countries are:
USA, Ukraine, France, Philippines, Russian, Poland, Italy, Romania, United Kingdom, Georgia, Uganda, Nigeria, Netherlands