Enduring hope

I Peter 3:8-17

What is it that keeps our HOPE alive through troubled times, or times of suffering and gets us through them? This passage from First Peter lists characteristics God looks for and wants to develop in us as His children: 1) be like-minded, i.e., unified; 2) be sympathetic; 3) be loving; 4) be compassionate; 5) be humble; 6) be forgiving.

This isn't all I found.  Here is the rest of my list.  

   7.   be a blessing (v.9)

   8.   be godly in how you speak (v.10)

   9.   be Christ-like in your actions (v.11)

   10. be peace-loving and peace-creating (v.11)

   11. be fearless (v.14)

   12. be holy (v.15)

   13. be ready to be a good witness to others (v.15)

   14. be gentle (v.16)

   15. be respectful (v.16)

That is quite a list, isn’t it?  I know I have not conquered this list yet.  God still has a lot to do in me to develop my HOPE but my goal is to allow God to help me continue to develop these characteristics in my life.  By doing so, God is preparing me to endure whatever comes even if that means suffering in some way.

Goaded

Ecclesiastes 12:11

The words of the wise are like goads …

When I first read this, my reaction was negative because when I think of “goads” I think of a cattle prod, something uncomfortable or even painful.  I looked up “goad” in the dictionary and as happens so often, I gained new understanding of the meaning of this verse by doing so!  “Goad” is indeed a prod, such as an electrified pole that pushes cattle along.  The other meaning of the word is “an encouragement or a stimulus,” and that puts a whole new layer of meaning to this verse.  The words of a wise person should be stimulating the hearers, encouraging them to do the right thing, to make wise decisions.  At times that might mean speaking uncomfortable things to them.  When I speak wisely, my goal should be to gently but firmly force the thinking and action of the hearer towards godly thinking and doing.  When I do that, I will be goading them along the path of righteousness.

When I read this in my devotions this week, I immediately thought of the Sunday School lesson I was studying for the week from I Peter 2:4-15.  There are goads that God uses in our lives to push us along toward spiritual growth, gently prodding us along. 

            v.5 = be a living stone, built to be a holy priesthood

            v.5 = offer acceptable sacrifices

            v.6 = believe in Him

            v.6 = never be put to shame

            v.7 = receive honor

            

I Peter 2:11-16 gives us the goads we use to point others to Christ, ways we can prod them along the path of righteousness. 

         v.11 = live pure lives

         v.12 = conduct yourself honorably

         v.13 = be submission to authority, wherever it is

         v.14 = do not abuse your freedom 

 

I need God’s goading to push me along into a deeper walk with Him and at the same time I want God to use me to prod others!

More thoughts on HOPE

I Peter 1:13-25

Our hope in Christ changes how we view the world and live in it.

I read recently that “Living as strangers in this world … [means that] we are no longer driven by the culture’s values and demands.  We fight the battle of the mind …”

This statement got me to thinking about how we fight this battle of HOPE so as I read through I Peter 1:13-25, I kept looking for clues.  I invite you to do this same activity right now.

Get some paper and a pen and make two columns.  Label one column “What God does” and label the other column “What we do.”  Then, as you read through this passage verse by verse, note what you find that indicates the role God plays and/or the role a Christian believer plays in the development of HOPE in one’s life.  Here is the list I found.  I would love to hear what you found!

WHAT GOD DOES:

v. 17 = acts fairly

v.18-19 = provides a means of redemption

v.18 and 23 = provides salvation that cannot be destroyed

v.21 = raised Jesus from the dead

v.21 = provides a reason for faith and hope

v. 23 and 25 = provides His Word [that never changes or dies or fades away)

WHAT WE DO:

v.13 = be ready for action

v.13 = be alert (sober-minded)

v.13 = be focused on Jesus’ grace

v.14 and 22 = be obedient

v.14 = be different (do not be conformed to sinful ways of thinking and acting)

v.15 = be impeccable (i.e., “holy”) in your conduct

v.17 = act reverently (respect all that God has done for us and treat others with respect)    

v.22 = love others from a pure heart

What else did you find for these two columns about HOPE?

So much of the power of our HOPE depends upon our response to what God has so abundantly provided for us.  Let’s pray that together we will increase the strength of our HOPE so it can help us face these uncertain times more confidently, displaying God’s love and mercy to others.  By doing so we will be bringing HOPE to others as we increase our own.  It is a win-win scenario!

HOPE

I Peter 1:1-9

v.3: Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

 

The Bible handbook I use for background information about each book of the Bible says that the key word for I Peter is the word “hope.”  There are some interesting, challenging, and thought-provoking lessons hidden in this passage from chapter one.

   

My hope is alive.  Did you notice that in verse 3?  It is a living hope because it is hope based on the resurrection of Jesus.  This hope is founded on the grace of God. 

What happens when you have hope that is alive?   When you read the remainder of the verses in this passage, you can find several distinguishing characteristics of that ALIVE HOPE. Here is what I found:

     v.4 = it is heaven-based and therefore does not die or fade away;

     v.5 = it is guarded by God Himself;

     v.6 = troubles and /or suffering do not destroy its power;

     v.7 = it glorifies Jesus in our lives;

     v.8 = it gives us the ability to have joy no matter what our circumstances may be.

    

What does hope do for us?       

     Hope gives us light when life is at its darkest;

     Hope gives us motivation when we become discouraged;

     Hope gives us joy when there is no joy in our circumstances;

     

How is HOPE helping you cope with the challenges in your life?  Is there someone you know who needs to be reminded of the HOPE we have as children of God?  Call them or send them a message to encourage them in that HOPE.

Anyone for sailing?

I am not a sailor, but as I thought about how to use the pad of sailing-related papers that was given to me a few months ago, a mini album is what came to mind, so a couple of weeks ago I got it out and started working on an album.  Being still isolated at home, I could not go shopping to see what I could find for embellishments, so I just used what I could to add interest and dimension.  I am pleased with the results, as I continue to learn the techniques necessary for good results in a book.  Here area couple of views of the cover:

I cut out a sailing ship and added it with foam tape .  I also added black ink to the body of each ship for some colot, and put clear glitter glue on the one above, although the glitter turned gold when I put it on the blue paper!  Go figure!  I also put pearl on the two wheels.  Some red and white ribbon and navy and white twine added a bit of color to the cover.

There is a waterfall album on the inside of the front cover that has 5 pages, so it could hold up to 9 or 10 photos.  It is held closed with a magnetic tab.  Then page 1 has a little 4-page booklet.

The rest of the pages are pretty self-explanatory.  Some have pockets with mats for photos, others have what looks like a band of different paper across the page.  Those can have memorabilia that is thicker tucked under them.  The page with the seahorse has a square of other paper in the corner that is only glued down on two sides so a photo or a paper can be tucked under the "pocket."

I have enough paper left on the same pad to make another book, which I plan to do soon.  I don't have any plans for the books at this point, but I figure one day someone will go on a cruise, or go to the lake for a vacation, and will have pictures they take that will fit into this sailing theme.  When I can, I'll give it away, or sell it!

Catching up

Oh, my!  I had no idea it had been so long since I made any posts on this blog until I looked this morning!  You would think that in these stay-at-home days I would be posting every day.  I certainly could have, given how many cards I've been making and mailing.  My biggest problem is that I am not a photo person so I miss many an opportunity to take a picture and post it.  That has always been one of my big weakesses.

In the past month I have made a mailed off about 50 cards.  When July came along I found quite a long list of friends with birthdays in this month, so I began making cards like mad this past week, many of them using new stamp sets I recently received.  But I am getting ahead of myself in a way.

I started the month off making an especially July-friendly card.

See what I mean?  Doesn't the watermelon make you think of July 4th???  I'll be mailing it this week to a friend.  I recently became acquainted with Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge and have enjoyed following it.  I am going to submit this watermelon card for that July challenge.

Another thing I think of in July cards is butterflies.  We have a bush of lantana (is that how you spell it?  Not sure) in our back yard.  It is full of bright yellow blossoms and there are huge yellow and black butterflies that come every day to drink from those blossoms.  My butterfly card is not yellow but I am very pleased with it anyway!

Several weeks ago I "happened" onto a new-to-me stamp company that has captured my heart .. Honey Bee Stamps.  They have such cute bee-inspired stamps and dies.  Just to prove to you how cute, take a look at these little bees on the two "beeday" cards I made this week!

Aren't those little bees the cutest things?  Too bad they aren't that cute in real life!  More coming from that stamp set for sure!

I also got a new stamp set from my other current "most favoritest" company (I love you, Simon Says Stamp!) that I used for another birthday card going out this coming week.

I used colored pencils to color the row of houses and the airplane with the banner (and the sun in the sky), then popped the plane and banner up on foam tape.  Even though the front of the card says "Thinking of you," the inside is a birthday message.