Hope!

Hope is an amazing concept! I went outside this morning and saw a spectacular blue sky with white clouds. I listened to music and thought all the way to work instead of my usual reading. Yesterday I read Tozer's reflections on the goodness of God. On top of God's imutability and infinitude, having goodness mixed with those characteristics is an amazingly joyful thought! It has been quite a bolster to my faith, which is foundational to hope. As we've been making our way through Revelation in our Bible study I've been infused with the knowledge that God is a lot bigger and more powerful than I had remembered. And since He is infinite in His omnipotence, He is more powerful still than I can comprehend now or ever. He is huge. Huger than my understanding of huge. The word itself, as a matter of fact, is a limitation to the reality of just how huge He is. His power is displayed over and over and over in Revelation. It is the most amazing mix of characteristics though, that God is also GOOD. He has unfailing love for us. For me. In particular. And I don't want to lose the concept of hope here though because that's what this is all about. BECAUSE God is perfectly huge and perfectly powerful and perfectly good and perfectly loving, I have hope! That spurs so much anticipation in me I can hardly contain my grin! And am not containing it as a matter of fact!
The thoughts began this morning on hope for a love due to the song I was listening to, which I've actually listened to quite often. It talks about not knowing who that person is or where they are but you pray for them anyway. Right now in my prayers this man is the unnamed and will remain so until my wedding day but I pray for him all the same because I have hope in God's goodness. Even if God were to keep me single all my life, I still have hope. Because what I'm hoping for is not earthly. Psalms 33 talks about hoping in God's unfailing love:

"A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.
We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,
even as we put our hope in you."

I believe that God has given us gifts, things to fill us beyond anything those things could provide on their own. Marriage is one of those things. It is not bad to hope for it. But what I am hoping for and anticipating is God's unfailing love. He is the giver of all good gifts! Were I to fall in love now, it would only be under the umbrella of overwhelming gratefulness to God. We love Him because He first loved us... I can understand that.
But those thoughts were only the starting point of my little reverie. I started to think about hoping in God on a larger scale, for all of my life. For every different sphere. God wants us to draw close to Him, and there is joy there, no matter what the circumstance, because God's character never changes. But things are not always wonderful. Can I hope in God then? When bad things happen, will I still hope in God's unfailing love? Will I still recognize God's perfect goodness? We will not know until we find out but that is a matter for prayer and preparation.

The anticipation I felt for every moment of my life this morning was too much to ponder without some tears of joy. Even the thoughts of not getting necessarily what I thought I wanted in life were trumped by my desire for God, and oh boy! that is one thing I will always have!
I do hope in His unfailing love. It's too big for me to comprehend and I sure do like it that way. I have a lot of work to do right now but I couldn't let these thoughts pass me by without making them to be remembered. I never want to forget what the Spirit taught me this morning. AND in addition to that I want everyone to know it because I want everyone else to feel this way too. :) So if you're thinking gosh, THAT was personal... you're right! it was! and I'm happy to tell everyone!