On hope.

The last blog post I had in 2009 was actually pretty telling of what was to come in my life. 2009 and into 2010 were months that I don't particularly care to rehash, and I realize now why I stopped blogging. The deepest of deep places I've ever been, it wasn't for sharing. Even the journal I have from those days sits on my shelf collecting dust as I haven't had the heart to review that time period. I'm starting to get a little braver though, to revisit those times and begin sharing what I've been learning. It takes some boldness, something that I've never been known for!

Have you ever been in a season like that? Whether there is actual dramatic events that caused it or it's just God removing layer after layer of the "things" you no longer need, those seasons are real and they are legit. Never again will I scoff at anyone's heartbroken state. The verse in Proverbs is so very right on: Hope deferred makes the heart sick. (Proverbs 13:12) The beauty of that statement is the second part: but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. Amen. I love that it doesn't say that Hope will stay completely absent or it doesn't exist, it's just deferred. Deferred means to put off to a later time or to postpone. It doesn't matter where you sit right now, those places you feel hopeless, God says are deferred and probably for a good reason. I know in my life it was a for good reason. God need to rewrite something that had been poorly written in my life. He needed to heal some wounds that had festered. My longing to be healed HAS brought LIFE. Life I didn't know that I was missing. Life I am seeing that I can share.

I was sitting in a local grocery store today with a young woman that I care a whole lot about. She was full of light and life that made her smile from ear to ear. And it wasn't because of anything particular other than she was realizing how much LIFE she had to live. For the first time, she seeing she can actually do the things she dreams of and that God is really who He says He is. Her hope had been deferred for a reeeeeeeeeeeally long time, and back in August she started to do something about it. God met her where she was and ever since then, He's been repairing her life, piece by piece. We've been meeting in that grocery store for almost 6 months now, and I drove up today marveling that God has met us there week after week. In the GROCERY store. I also marveled at how stunning the changes are in her. Today, over our coffee, I saw what God was really capable of in two women whose lives have been submitted to Him in the deferred state. I gotta say, it's stunning!

Where are you on the continuum? Does life have you full of hope right now or are you deferred? Either way, that tree of life is the promised destination!