more gifts of hope, peace

 

The alarm beeped loudly.  I reached over and slapped snooze.  Then I heard it.

Rain.  A steady, comforting, relaxing sound.  Not too heavy, no rolling thunder, no high or howling wind.

#529  The peaceful sound of steady rain to wake up to in the morning. 

I could feel the cool dampness in the room.  It made it hard to have to get out from the warm covers but also made it so easy to have something to thank God for first thing in the morning.

I put on my comfy pants and wrapped my cotton jacket around me and went out to the screened in porch with my Bible. 

The rain continued and I read. A little after I had been there, the rain began falling a little harder. The wind began to blow just enough to give me a chill...and goose-bumps.  Maybe to keep me awake.  To listen.

So I listened.  I still heard the rain.  I heard the birds who were getting a shower. 

I felt peace. 

I felt the warmth of God’s Presence.

I heard again the word HOPE. 

I remembered words I read from a Women of Faith book called Hope the Anchor For Your Soul. 

“Hope remakes us into new people.  It changes our state of mind.  Our perspective changes, so that our eyes become fixed on the Lord.  We try to put ourselves in His place – look at things in the same way that Jesus would have. 

Hope also works on our attitudes.  Our heart tells us to put posing and pouting aside, trading grouchy ‘attitudes’ for the attitude of Christ.  When this happens, God is pleased with us.” 

Is this hope-thing working?  It would’ve been so easily to wake up this morning and grumble that it was a rainy day, that I had to get up early, that I had a big “to-do” list today and didn’t know how I’d get it done.  I could’ve grumbled that I had to deal with a hard-to-deal-with person, that I had overflowing baskets of laundry to do…

So counting joys can change hope…

“When we consider the sheer magnitude of these changes in naturally selfish creatures, we begin to grasp the truly miraculous effect of hope in our heart.

We can have an incredible, amazing, irrepressible hope.”   What an amazing gift to cling to…to thank God for!

#530  “Hope opens our eyes. 

#531  Hope affects our attitudes. 

#532  Hope gives us purpose. 

#533  Hope sets a goal before us. 

#534  Hope fills our lives with good things – the very goodness of God. 

Hope is our reason for rejoicing!

The hope we have makes all the difference in the world because it opens our eyes to new things, and it gives us something to look forward to.  But it also gives us something to hold on to right now”…in our everyday struggles and sometimes battles or outright wars…confidence through Christ.   Psalm 27:3

So as the rain came to an end this morning, my hope was refreshed.