Tuesday, August 30, 2016

The Need for Hope

Yesterday, I sat with a beloved friend in a room with her daughter's body that had been overtaken by cancer.

There are so many people in our lives these days-so many CHILDREN in our lives with cancer, that when my 3 year old daughter prays, she has started praying for "no more cancer" even in those who don't have it.  

So many that we love and care for are riddled with pain or disease or loss....

Not to mention that so much of our own life involves appointments and anesthesia and night terrors and watching and waiting to see what this destroyer called cancer will do next.

I have also had the amazing privilege of standing with, sitting with (like yesterday) or being acquainted with those who have endured unspeakable loss....and while it has crushed them, and broken them, and uprooted them....the power of Jesus Christ has allowed them to not be overtaken. With aching hearts, they still get up and believe that He is good.  So today, I honor these faithful ones. They dare to call me to a courage that goes beyond this life and looks to the next one.  They give me the strength to endure because the power of Christ really IS made perfect in my weakness. They remind me how much we all need Hope, and that in Christ....I have it.  
And so with this Hope, I long to proclaim to every hurting heart, every broken body, and every soul that is weary: Jesus is real.  He will return. He is perched, upon a white horse, waiting for the command of the Father to RIDE IN. His name is Faithful and True. And when He comes, our hopes will be realized, our hearts will be mended, and we will know the unspeakable joy of life without sorrow or sin.  Come. Lord. Jesus.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month. Childhood cancer receives only 4% of the research funding for cancer.  Please join me in praying for the many little warriors who are fighting this fight. Pray for their families to have the hope of Jesus Christ in the midst of the most difficult circumstances. Pray for the comfort of the Holy Spirit to abound.

The great preacher of old, Martyn-Lloyd Jones, at the end of his life, was said to have told those who would pray for his healing to stop it because they were "holding him back from glory." Oh Lord, give me those eyes to see that this life is just a shadow of the glorious one, where the mountains are higher, the trees are taller, and the goodness of God is so great that I need a new body to handle it. 

And pray that the Lord would continue to send laborers into the field so that many would be brought into the Kingdom of Light. May we long for the return of the King of Love with such strength that we are actually moved into action.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, let us have more compassion and kindness than ever. Let's speak gentle and kind words, because we never know what brokenness will be met by them.  Let's love radically because the glory of God is on the line.
We need Hope.
Jesus is Hope.
Let's make Him known, for the sake of His name and His Kingdom!!!!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

AMEN! Thank you so much Lisa! You are such an incredible witness and encouragement!

Unknown said...

I truly appreciate your authenticity, as you struggle with the pain of every day life and the hope of eternity with our King. Thank you for sharing your heart and lives with us all. I pray for you often and am grateful for you and your precious family. -Kerri