SAVED BY HOPE

 Often, in a world that is all at my door by the worldwide internet, a gray cloud threatens my peace and calm. A single word “hope” changes my outlook. The fear subsides. “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for?” Romans 8:24. The question: hope in what? Here is our relief: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” Psalm_42:5 .  But as if to say, “Are you paying attention?” this Psalm and the next repeat this verse three times. Disquieted is to be in great commotion, moan, cry aloud mourn.

We struggle with weight management, our health, pain, both emotional and physical. In one way or another life gets hard. But when hope in our All Powerful God, through the words of Jesus said, “I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you…” hope emerges. We are saved from many of the fears, hopelessness and grief emotions that threaten to destroy us when we believe the Bible.

Months ago a struggle with pain began with a pause in concentration on a downward slope on my bicycle: I went down hard. I did it all by myself. A route I’d taken for many months, but this time I didn’t see a branch from a tree right at eye level. The accident caused three fractures put me in the ER and a wheelchair for a few months.

I gained weight and was glad to sit in that wheelchair until the very fit therapist told me to hide the wheelchair. I was shown how to walk looking straight ahead, rather than looking at the ground, practiced balance, did chair squats and got confidence back. Yes, surprises like accidents happen. Today in our culture a lack of knowledge in what we should feed ourselves (and everybody around us, if we’re the cook in the house). We slowly but surely lose our health. Our current culture has been interested much more in their bottom line than selling or serving whole food.

We do not need to be part of this. By the grace and wisdom of God through the Bible, you and I have the knowledge at hand, the wisdom and the power to get on the path that leads to abundant life. “The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10. Whole food, described in the Bible and in above Posts brought my weight down without counting calories or following a fad diet.