Hope

I am shifting through the mail on the kitchen table when I see a letter addressed to me. I squeal and snatch it up to see it is from my friend Kristen. I wave it at my mom, eyes dancing. "Look!"

She looks up from her book, smiles, and nods her head. "Yeah, that came for you today."

I hurry outside to our deck and rip the letter open. And what I read makes me know how blessed I am to have a friend like Kristen. Her letter brightens my day. So much so I knew I had to share it with all of you.

Lots of us are petrified right now with this Covid-19 pandemic. Things are opening up around places again, but that still makes people worried and scared. We don't know what the future holds; it's just the turth of it. And that is totally understandable. What I want people to know is, we always have hope in Christ. We always have assurance and steady ground in Him. We can look up to Him and know He is bigger than any fear in this old world, and He can squash fear between His thumb and finger. He is there for you, and He is ready to help you through fears.

This is the encouraging note Kristen gave me [words in parentheses are mine or alternations to the letter to make it read easier]:

This whole Covid-19 thing has really shaken my whole life . . . but somehow I feel like we're actually gonna survive. [Now buckle down, things are gonna get rough *winks*] Right now, nothing can be controlled . . . the most worrying thing about [this] is, we can't do anything about it . . . [okay, you can unbuckle now] That is why my refuge right now is God. The greatest thing about God is He never changes. [Amen!] The coronavirus isn't going to effect Him. Nothing will ever change Him . . . I think right now the best thing to do is [to] just trust God. Jeremiah 29:11 [says:] "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord. 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to bring you a hope and a future.'" Right now, I'm holding on to that verse . . . One other thing I like to think about is Heaven. When we get to heaven, we won't have to worry about pandemics. Won't that be nice!

Believe, y'all. Let us all join hands and believe and hang onto Jeremiah 29:11. Let us put all our fears into God's loving hands and shed our burdens. You don't have to worry, sweet friends, because God's got this. Sometimes it might not feel that way, and we don't know what is gonna happen, but NOTHING will ever change out Savior. And that is beautiful. We can trust Him and and hang onto the hope of heaven! We can let Him squash our fears! Hang onto the fact God NEVER changes. He is ALWAYS, always, always there and is ALWAYS, always, always loving you, and is ALWAYS, always, always watching with love in His eyes.

I hope Kristen's letter brought you hope. We always have hope in Jesus. He is our life line. Amen?

~Izzy~