Did you know HOPE can become stale?  I didn’t!  In fact it never crossed my mind to think about it.  I understood that sometimes we lose hope- or it wanes in comparison to what it once was even.  But stale?

This weekend, at a prayer service I attended, a pastor in attendance prayed over me.  Part of his powerful prayer for my life-mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually- spoke into my need for “fresh hope”.  I sense your hope has become stale.

I was STRUCK!  Yes!  I knew immediately what God was saying through him!

When Leisha died, much of me died!  It felt like I literally had to learn how to walk again, which also meant everything else I thought I knew how to do had to be relearned as well.

But hope- well, Leisha left me my first lesson on hope.  I remembered it after she died.  “Mom, my favorite color means my favorite word.  Green means HOPE!”

Green Hope!

indicates Hope grows!

indicates it is alive!

And yes, I looked for something that pointed me to hope everyday.  Some little glimmer of green that said hope was alive.  One day after another after another…!  Hope lived!  and so did I!

Yet here I was listening to these words of this pastor and I knew  they were true.  Somewhere along the way, I transferred my focus from Green, Life giving Hope to words I said, but didn’t feel.  From the depth of emotion to the title of my business.  From Green -to Puke Grey! (I hope that is not really the name of a color?)

But the pastor prayed that I would have FRESH HOPE! That I would know it and live it out as I walked with authority into the mission God has given me.

This morning, our interim pastor used a passage from 1 Peter 1 that jumped off the page at me.  Verse 3 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” 

Amazing! Born into a LIVING HOPE that will not perish or spoil or fade.  Think of it!  It is not based on my emotions or ability to see something green today.  It is not even based on if things are going well or crappy!

Living hope comes through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead! Period! That’s it!  Hope starts and LIVES with Jesus!

So…if hope- which is living- never grows stale, why do we?

Just keep reading in 1 Peter: (Message)

Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.

^22-25 Now that you’ve cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it. Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God’s living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself!

That’s Fresh Hope!

Is your hope fresh?