Hope

Somewhere over the past few weeks I read a definition of hope that has been pretty life changing for me. I think it was from Beth Moore's Patriarchs study so I'll give her the credit: "Hope is the present enjoyment of a future promise."
Real Church has played a pretty huge role in rearranging my thoughts about this life and how I expect God to be working in it. I've come to realize that a lot of time the trials we go through are not just about us. We can't see the bigger picture of what God is trying to accomplish in our families, at our jobs, in the lives of our friends, etc. So being able to trust that God knows what he's up to even when we have no idea is pretty huge.
I've come to agree with Larry Crabb when he says "spiritual formation will increase not our experience of God but our thrist for God." I'm thirsty, and there are so many things close at hand that I could use to quench that thirst, #1 easiest for me- food. But the more I thirst for God the more I realize that God is shaping me into something different and new. And this is where the hope comes in. I can sit around and be depressed that I'm 24, unemployed, living in my parent's house, and don't have a church to call my own. OR I can change my thought patterns to enjoy the promise that one day this thirst will be quenched, everything will be perfect and I'll get to party it up in perfect joy and peace in the presence of GOD himself!
Life is hard. God is good.