Catherine Corley - Where My Hope Lies

"O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption."  Psalm 130:7 (NIV) 


Today, I need to replace the first words to read, “O Cathy, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption."  Today, I need just a little more hope, a little bit of a nudge from the Lord, to get me through this week.  I need to know He is in control.

I have really been pouring my soul into my quiet time with the Lord lately, but the better I think I am becoming, the harder the trials are that are thrown my way.  At least it seems that way--feelings of rejection, constant physical pain, a family member diagnosed with a brain tumor, a bad lab report from my own doctor, people who try me with their difficult attitudes, a sense of loneliness I struggle with even when I am surrounded by people. Oh, and, last but not least, a new Smart Phone that I obviously am not young enough to understand!  Why don't they make "remedial phones" like they make bikes with training wheels?  

I have spent the last several weeks feeling like I am in a field with cannons on all sides shooting at me from every direction.  I imagine myself swaying and swerving to avoid the pelting that obviously lies waiting for me at any moment.

I guess we all have weeks like this.  God doesn't promise us an easy life; one of lying on the beach with a pleasant breeze and reading our favorite books.  But sometimes, I truly don't know where I am going.  I feel like I am in the middle of Siberia without a GPS!  And, of course, I haven't learned to use that app on my Smart Phone yet!

But the Bible promises us hope and our hope is in the Lord.  1 Peter 1:21 (NIV) says, “Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope in are God."

So today, I sit here, knowing surely and securely that my hope is in God.  I tell myself over and over again that this storm shall pass.  Although I know full well, even after this storm passes, another one is lurking out in the distance.  But there is another answer in Psalm 39:7 (NIV) “But now, Lord, what do I look for?  My hope is in you.”  My hope is in Him!  He who made me and sustains me, through sickness and sorrow, He is my rock and my foundation.

Even on days when I feel I am nothing more than a speck of dust, about to be sucked up by the vacuum cleaner, the Lord loves me, He cares for me and He gives me the one thing that will take me to tomorrow…HOPE!

May He give you the feeling of hope no matter what your day holds.