Hope Deferred

  It's here!  Spring!  Arriving full gusto-  The Spring design for LOV had been finished weeks ago.  I had wanted save posting it for first day of Spring, but with the very warm weather, grass turning green, and daffodils already in bloom, it was all I could do to have patience!  Isn't it worth the wait!!  I love the freshness it brings.

I've said before that this weather (Spring actually arriving with its calendar date) is very uncharacteristic for Pennsylvania.  Phil told us on Ground Hog Day that we would have 6 more weeks of winter.  No one really listens to him but- he is usually right.  As we make slashes on our calendars here, the first day of Spring usually arrives with 40 degree temperatures and cold rain, frost, or snow. Just two years ago my daughters searched for Easter eggs in the snow while donning pastel, flowing dresses and white "Easter" shoes!  Spring arrives on the calendar and for all of you enviable Southerners but for us "snow birds" it is with hope that the warm weather prevail.

But this year!  As my husband reminded me, it is like the year of our betrothal.  We became engaged February 19th and wed June the 16th.  The four short months between were full of glorious Spring days wrapped in Love.  This year the warm breeze, bright sun's rays, and colorful flowers have put us in mind of that memorable Spring twenty-two years ago.

Are you experiencing a blossoming Spring?

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."

~Proverbs 13:12 NIV



What are you hoping for today?  Has it become "deferred"?  That is to say has the arrival of your heart been so delayed that its no longer expected?  Is your heart sick because despair and melancholy have replaced hopeful belief?

Remember, dear sister, that when your desire is realized, a tree of hope grows within that cannot help but branch out its limbs into every area of your life and entwine with those of others.

If our faith should fail in the day of adversity, then it is small. (Provers 24:10)  The New International Version explains it this way: "If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength!"  It is not about having faith in our faith -but having faith in our Source of faith, our source of Strength.  If you feel your faith failing, cry out, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!"  He will meet you.  He will HELP you. 

Do not give up HOPE. Take that tiny mustard seed of faith that was planted with hope and cultivate it. Recall former situations when your hope blossomed into reality. Recall other times when His faithfulness met you at the perfect intersection. Let faith rain upon your seed, the Word shine until it germs into a tree.

Your desire will be realized. Your life will blossom for others to swing upon its branches.

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Linking today with Raising Homemakers, Women Living Well, and A Holy Experience.

Hope While Answers Tarry

A few weeks ago I took these pictures and thought they would make great visuals for a blog entry titled "Hope".  See the vibrant green peeking out from the frozen earth?  Hope that new life is ready to burst forth.

I have heard that in Kentucky the ladies are already planting their gardens!  But here in Pa that is not typical until Memorial Day!  So March is an unpredictable month of warm teases of the sun and blistering snow storms.

April cannot come soon enough for me- the calendar guarantee that Spring is here.  I love the snowy winters here, truly, but this winter seems to have dragged.  I am so ready for Spring with new life, new opportunities, dreams to be realized.

And you know what?  Yesterday the gray sky opened and huge,white, wet flakes descended heavily upon my world.  I was not happy about it!  "Wait!  It is supposed to be 60 degrees!  I will even take 50 degrees with sunshine!"  Instead my daffodil greens got blanketed with ice.

I could not help but feeling that Nature was a parallel picture of my soul....HOPE DEFERRED.

Seems that my hopeful, happy expectancies of a few weeks ago are running dry.  No answer to my prayers.  No change in circumstance...the same cold wind and icy ground.

I took this picture yesterday.

Instead of breathing hope- the sign was mocking me.  "Spring Returns..."  Not yet! Winter drags...........and then snows again.

But thankfully the gentle Voice spoke to me,
"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."  (See Romans 15:13 NIV)

"Yes, Lord.  Though answers tarry.  YOU are Hope. The Stirrer of dreams.  The One who makes the flowers rise out of the frozen earth.  I will believe You and Your promises and patiently wait."

Beloved, what are you hoping for? a loved one to know salvation?  work for your husband?  circumstance to change?  HOPE in God. Trust.  Believe.  Your soul will be put at peace and filled with JOY as you expect. Even as the answer tarries.

Today I look at the same flag outside my front door.  TODAY it reads-  "Yes, Spring Returns- It is on its way!"