I‘m seeing it again… what I love so much about following these blogging trips. In fact, most of the posts I’m reading are talking about it, too.
The one thing that stood out during our visit to the Buhongwa child development center with Compassion International today was HOPE.
…
Hope is such a small word but filled with such amazing potential.
Obviously, hope is a theme for me, and it was long before I named this blog Hope Is Calling six years ago. The thing is… you can’t really identify hope for what it is until you see it shining in the darkness of hopelessness.
I’m reading through everything the bloggers shared last night, and what do I see?
First I see the hopelessness as it exists in the natural through Kelli’s eyes. Hopelessness that is unfortunately all-too-real in this world of sin.
She meets the mothers who aren’t praying for the rent payment or the gas money… they’re praying for bread for their children that night.
The families whose children are still waiting (some for almost a year) for a sponsor and (if they’re anything like me) probably beginning to wonder if maybe, for some reason, God hadn’t chosen their child.
The families who are on the outside looking in on the work that Compassion and Love and Jesus are doing.
But then Kelli goes back to the project. And there?
Back at the Compassion center at the Africa Inland Church I saw hope. I saw it and I heard it. I hugged it and let it play with my hair. Hope revealed itself in the form of giggling faces, curious stares, sweet songs and a sermon from a ten year old named James that would put the greatest communicators of the pulpit to shame.
Hope. It’s slow. But it’s there.
That’s what I love being a part of, in my own small way, with my own Compassion kids and my blog and these words I write.
I love sharing the hope that is there and here, surrounding us. Oh I know that hope sometimes seems hidden somewhere that refuses to be found. But it’s not. You just have to know where to look.
Ps. 25:3 – “No one who hopes in You will ever be put to shame.”
Ps. 31:24 – “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.”
Ps. 147:11 – “The LORD delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love.”
Is. 40:31 – “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Is. 49:23 – “Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in Me will not be disappointed.”
Jer. 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Rom. 15:13 – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
1 Tim 6:17 – “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”
Psalm 139:7-12
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Hope is everywhere. But only because He is everywhere.
Wanna see more pictures and read more snippets from Kelli? She shared a whole extra post-full!