Rays of Light

Sunlight!  Oh, how I love sunlight.

 The sun was especially beautiful this morning.  I awoke about 7:30 which is "sleeping in" for me as I usually have to get up at 5:45 Monday - Friday.  But, on this cold, winter Sunday, I slept in and went downstairs seeking the coffee my husband had just brewed.  I looked out the kitchen window to a very pretty sunrise.  And to a pair of cardinals and one bluejay at the feeder.  The cardinal was sitting in a ray of sun......and I was envious!  Oh how I miss the days of sitting on the deck in the early morning and letting the sun touch my shoulders.......it's one of my favorite ways to start the day in the summer months.

But...this morning, the deck had about an inch of snow on it and the outside temperature was only 9 degrees!  It was cold!  But that sun was glorious......so I made my way into the family room and pulled apart the thick, thermal drapes I keep on the sliding glass doors for the winter month.....the sun rays touched my face and neck and I had the promise of those summer days to come.  I had hope.....hope that the sun would shine all day and into the beginning of the work week, and of course, hope that this winter would be a mild one. (so far so good...we don't have a lot of snow on the ground here in the part of NYS where I live).

The rays of sun reminded me of the devotional I had read on Friday evening from the "Jesus Calling" book. One of the sentences read "cling to Hope, and My rays of Light will reach you through the darkness."  Another sentence was "Hope is like a golden cord connecting you to heaven."  The devo went on to say that the more we cling to the cord, the more that Jesus can bear the weight of any of our burdens.  This will make us light!  And He will be an "ever-present Help".

The Scriptures used for this text were the following:

Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."

Romans 15:13 "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."

Let's place our hope in Him!  Let's look to Him as the source for our help.  I know for my self, I am clinging to Him like never before.  I have been shaken up recently, about something, and my faith is sometimes not as strong when that happens.  In the recent past, I have had trouble trusting people that I know God has placed in my life to help me. And as a result, it left me realizing that by questioning this, I was really questioning God.  I have had to place my trust in HIM and by doing that, I can trust the people He has blessed me with, who are there to encourage, pray and listen.  Yes, there are reasons some people have trouble with trust.  Things like betrayal, abuse, etc. often causes people to be wary of others, even those whom God has placed in our path and to whom we have "opened up" to by telling of our deep desires, secrets, hurts, fears, etc.  Sometimes we have to explain this to people..that it is not the person we don't trust, but just that we have "trust issues" from the hurts of the past that still need to be dealt with or that we are dealing with.

But....once the Lord helps us overcome the fear and we can learn to trust again, it is like a ray of sun has hit us......it is something that brings us hope.  Even if the people around us don't understand it or reject us because of it, we can still cling to the Hope we have in Him.  And trust Him......and search our own heart  that it is right with God.

And by doing this, we will have that peace that passes all understanding.

"Hope is the confident expectancy that Jesus, the Peace Speaker, will bless us and empower us with God's qualities, so we can have more than enough of His peace in our hearts as we trust in Him." (Thelma Wells)

So.....are you letting the Son shine on you today?

 Allow the "rays" of His Light to warm you......

Are you clinging to that Hope that brings the Peace of Jesus??