Keeping Forever In View

I woke up early this morning, before the sun was even up. I could have gone downstairs but instead I laid in bed thinking about the day ahead. I thought about the friends I might run into today, situations I have been praying for in their lives and mine.Then I started praying for each situation as the Lord would put a name on my heart, asking the Lord how he would want me to pray.

We all want answers to our prayers and I believe that God does answer prayers but in that moment I felt like the Lord was asking me...what if these situations don't change...how are you going to encourage? What if this is my plan for them. What if your circumstances don't change, what if this is where you are going to stay, are you willing to be satisfied?

Can we still have peace, joy, contentment, even in the midst of difficult situations, I think we can if our hope is vertical instead of horizontal. I know it is not always easy, we get tired, weary, discouraged...we want relief! So back to the question, how to encourage or be encouraged if a circumstance never changes? We need to encourage each other to put our hope in that which does not change. ( The Lord and his promises) We need to be reminded  that this world is not our forever. We need to be reminded that God is in control and that he will never give us more than we can bear, that he always has a plan and it is always for our good....always. We need to help each other see what we cannot always see, through God's word

We need to be reminded that horizontal hope will always fail us (hope in people, things, jobs, health, finances etc....broken world, fallen people) but we have a hope that is secure, that will not fail us.

With Christ as our savior this life is as bad as it gets, without Christ this life is as good as it gets. That gives me hope

Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time  1 Peter 1:3-5