Reminders of Hope

A lovely friend of mine took a trip to Hawaii last year and she brought me back a cool bracelet made of mostly lava beads and a tiger eye cross. She told me that the lava beads represent strength and resilience. The meaning the lava represents is only complete because of the other bead in the center, the cross. Without Jesus no amount of our own strength can carry us through life.

When I got to attend church last week I wore the bracelet because God was stirring something in my spirit about it. As I sat in worship I began to realize that we often see hard circumstances as negative. For example when a volcano erupts the lava is destructive and harmful but once it has cooled the once flowing molten can be  formed into something else.

Sometimes when we face destructive circumstances in our life we need to let God cool them down and redeem them when the time is right.  We can trust Him to use the hard things even when the enemy means them for harm. How can I be so sure? Because He promises us;

“But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭50‬:‭20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God’s vision is so much broader and more all encompassing than we can possibly imagine. He knows how to fulfill  His plans for us even when life seems to be throwing unexpected obstacles our way. He loves us enough to use them to restore us and others and to reveal the future and a hope He planned for us all along!

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29‬:11