Abound in Hope!

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may ABOUND in HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  Romans 15:13 NKJV

On New Year’s day, I bumped into an old friend. Suzie and I dove deep immediately as she shared how she was celebrating 90 days of sobriety. She has experienced significant loss these last two years, including the deaths of her husband and adult daughter. These heart-wrenching passings took her to the bottom of a hopeless pit.

Then God intervened. Through the support of a 12-step group, family, friends and new hope in Christ, she is now a woman abounding in hope. Suzie will experience rocky seasons as a recovering alcoholic, but she is determining to keep her eyes fixed on God and to keep her life immersed in her support systems.

I am currently memorizing Romans 15:13, I so love how Paul called our Heavenly Father “The God of Hope”. Paul encouraged the Romans to “ABOUND in HOPE” in this passage. 

How does one Abound in Hope in 2015?

The church in Rome was full of factions and disunity. Their culture oozed with depravity and idol worship. Sound familiar?

Paul told the  Roman church to abound, not by their own power BUT, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Meaning that we (as did the church in Rome) have God’s power living in us to hope abundantly! I often forget this truth-that the Spirit of God lives in me. Incredible.

My take is this: Our hope in a heavenly future, infuses abounding hope into our present, earthly lives. 

“In His name, the nations will put their HOPE.” Matthew 12:21 NIV 

I pulled a  few synonyms for abound  from Thesaurus.com: Swell, overflow, be alive with and be knee deep in.

I want to  be knee deep in God’s hope. It stinks being knee deep in discouragement and hopelessness. No more. I have chosen my word of the year and it is HOPE.

Amidst the trials, heartbreak, disunity, and cultural turmoil of life, we MUST return daily (for me some days, hourly) to the God of Hope. It is essential to seek support through scripture, friends, prayer, and church.

My prayer is that like Suzie, we’ll be knee deep in hope  in 2015.

Now go abound, my friend.