The Only Hope I've Got and the Only one I need

Psalm 51: 12 “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. “

I have felt so robbed of the innocence that just might have been a mere illusion, but an illusion that had been a certainty and a staple in my life since the beginning. I just feel older. Along with my dad’s cancer and then physical death, I have had close friends experience divorce amongst their parents, seen adultery and affairs in marriages that I was praying and expecting to last forever, men I have grown up respecting in my church and out of my church act completely unethical in their businesses, how money has corrupted their once pure desires, how lust and small compromises have led to the demise and downfall of many around me and I cannot help but wonder where did it all begin? What were those first baby steps in the wrong direction that seemed virtually harmless? What small lies did Satan tell and little truths that were only slightly altered did these people believe way back in the beginning? I have honestly been so saddened. I came to some realizations in spending some much needed time with sweet Jesus this morning, my heart’s burdens for these people and their lives are only as good as I am willing to trust Christ’ redemptive work and healing blood in their story like I am willing to trust it in the story of redemption and restoration he is writing in me. The gospel is relevant and all people everywhere are in desperate need of Jesus, just as I have come to know that I am, in every single moment. I was distressed because how come my hope and joy was being altered by such life events? Is it sad, should I be sad over these things? YES! Of course it is sad. BUT my hope and joy come from something that has dominated this sadness and Satan. My hope and joy are incorruptible and should not waver with the ever- changing things of this world. My hope and joy are in our Precious Jesus, He is in the battle with me and has already won the war. I feel lighter this morning and not so tangled up in all of this mess. This living “in it and not of it” line gets so hard to find for me sometimes. We, as believers, certainly do have something to offer a world that is drowning in its insecurities, man built mansions, and its’ desire for more that will never be met apart from a relationship with their maker.

Mom, Scott, and Todd are doing GREAT! Me and the boys will be going to Hale Center this weekend. We are going to spend time with Granny (my dad’s mom)! Please pray for our time together. I pray that she would feel so loved and that we would be able to comfort her and bless her in our short trip. It will be five months tomorrow since my dad went to be with Jesus…hard to believe. I am so happy for him and his new home. Can you sit and dream with me for a while, what he might be doing in this moment? I love thinking about this. It has become one of my favorite past times. Praise Jesus for such a place of peace both in life and in my mind. I love you all and pray that you, too, would be restored to the joy of His salvation in your own life, that you would remember your first love and get excited about our King, His eternal plan, and His agenda for the entire world! Amazing! XOXOXO… blessings, Kimmy