Fan the Flame

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13

I’ve mentioned that winter is hard for me—the cold, wind, rain, the stormy weather, the short days. It tends to impact my body, and it makes me feel lonely. Winter is definitely not my favorite season.

But there is one day in winter that I look forward to every year—the winter solstice, our shortest day. (Remember, in South Africa the seasons are exactly opposite ours, so Sally’s shortest day is our longest day in the U.S.) That means that the sun turns and we start getting more sunlight, longer days. That is exciting. I heard someone say that winter solstice brings a little more light and with it a moment of hope. I like that.

Having hope is so important! It’s important to all of us, but especially so if you are going through a difficult time. We need hope to keep going, to keep pressing forward. Hope is a simple but powerful tool that God has placed within us. We have to nourish it. We have to keep it alive in our hearts. We have to ask the Lord to fan the flames of hope if it’s dying in our hearts. We have to feed on the promises in the Word that give us hope. We have to worship the Lord, the giver of all hope.

In hard times there is no middle ground. We must press into God and stir up hope in our hearts. If we don’t, it’s easy to harden our hearts towards Him. The purpose of suffering and hard times is to produce hope, not to diminish it or destroy it. Hope for change is what keeps us going. We serve a God of hope, and He loves to strengthen hope in our hearts.

I could not have made it through these last few years without hope. On hard days when my hope wavered, I called out to God and He fanned into flame the flickering light of hope in my heart. He was so faithful!

Being without hope is not a terminal disease. If our hope wavers, God wants to stir hope alive in our hearts again. My hope is stirred today because longer days are coming.

Father, would You stir up hope in all whose hope is flagging today. You are good, and Your plans for us are good. Make us alive to hope that is in You. Amen.