Reflections of...HOPE!

         "Meet my friend HOPE...she is just grateful!"

Reflections Of… HOPE!

                                                       by Alan P. Scaglione

I woke up singing an old hymn of the church.

I have a hope…

That’s steadfast and sure..

I have an anchor…

That will endure…

My anchor holds…

Beyond the grave..

And Jesus, My Lord, the Great Resurrection..

Is mighty to save!

I used to love to sing this with our Ya’ll Come Choir at Thonotosassa COG.

Sister Reitha Stephens was our choir director.

Every time we sang it—the presence of the Lord just filled the sanctuary.

Something about hope—we just can’t live without it!

The message is loud and clear…

You’ve heard the old catch phrases:

Hope springs eternal!

Hope floats to the top!

Help Other People Exist!

It really is… the cure for all that ails you!

In Italian, Speranza means hope!

As I look around our world today, with all of the natural calamities and disasters we have faced, just in 2013 so far…

I see HOPE… from the parents from SandyHook Elementary who have started the SandyHook promise…

To the survivors of the tornadoes in Oklahoma…who look in that camera and say “We’ve got life, we’ve got hope!”

As a human being—it is the thing we cling to that keeps us from giving up…

When everything else is telling us that there’s no way something good can come from this…

Hope says—I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able…

To keep that which I’ve committed unto Him, against that day!

Hope is what my friend has…even when the doctors said “Go home, plan that cruise you’ve always wanted to go on…in your last 6 months to live.”

She has hope because she has a personal relationship with the HopeGiver—Jesus Christ gives us hope when no one else does!

And you know…there’s nothing worse than meeting someone who has lost all hope.

There’s just a vacancy in their eyes—the lights are on, but no one really is home—they’ve given up and abandoned all hope.

NOT ME!!

NOT MY FRIEND!

NOT YOU!

I am reminded of the scripture that says… whatever things are pure, true, just, beautiful…think on these things!

Hope is learned… by repeating over and over again “I have a hope…that’s steadfast and sure…I have an anchor that will endure!”

You get the picture—encourage yourself! Surround yourself with hopeful people! They have to see it…envision it…to hope for it!

Bible says “Without a vision, the people perish!”

Remind yourself every day of hope in your life!

I gave my friend a Gratitude Journal for her birthday gift.

Sometimes, when all else fails, we have to remind ourselves of what we are grateful for… the little things…like God waking us up this morning.
Last time I checked, I couldn’t wake up myself!
And look in the Obituaries…there are a lot of names there proving that they couldn’t wake themselves up either.
As long as there is LIFE…there is HOPE!
And I choose HOPE…
YOU can turn in your negative thoughts for HOPE!
YOU can choose to see the vision of God answering your prayer!
YOU can smile in the face of pain and adversity…knowing “weeping may endure for the night, but JOY comes in the morning…help is on the way!”
YOU can decide how YOU respond to the bleak news given by a doctor—they only know what they know…but they do NOT know what GOD knows!

So…I want to share some HOPE today!

I want you to remind yourself that YOU have HOPE in CHRIST!

And in HIM…HOPE really does SPRING ETERNAL!

I HOPE this helped someone today!
Helping Other People Exist = HOPE!

So…go help some other people exist in this world of bad news and bleak forecasts…give them HOPE for tomorrow!

JESUS is OUR ETERNAL HOPE!

Brother “A”

Send me an email—just as simple as selecting the link—Share your Reflections with me!

SHARE YOUR HOPE WITH ME TODAY!