{"id":12627,"date":"2020-06-23T06:08:44","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T11:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=12627"},"modified":"2020-06-23T06:08:49","modified_gmt":"2020-06-23T11:08:49","slug":"hope-springs-eternal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=12627","title":{"rendered":"Hope Springs Eternal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yesterday, the co-leaders of what was to have been our 2020 Women\u2019s ACTS 4-day Retreat in April, met to catch-up. Obviously, our retreat didn\u2019t happen, but we\u2019re counting on a coast-is-clear later this year. We\u2019re all still together in heart and spirit. Yes, I was disappointed about the six months of preparing for the retreat that didn\u2019t happen, and I\u2019ll admit I even shed a few tears. Amy\u2019s son didn\u2019t get to finish his last season of high school baseball and his graduation certainly didn\u2019t look like the final year of high school as they had expected. Deb\u2019s precious father passed away during this time after many trips back and forth to Houston to see him, but couldn\u2019t because of the hospital\u2019s COVID regulations. The funeral was on Facebook Live so we could ALL see the beauty of this Godly man who served with his whole being. Since we couldn\u2019t go to Houston to celebrate his life with the family, we had this lovely stone made for her \u2013 perfect timing for Father\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Michelle brought us the other half of the wooden hearts that she gave us early on in quarantine, promising the other half when we\u2019d see each other again. She didn\u2019t disappoint. And, she made us laugh as she told us about the possums that made their home under their deck, who by the way can sure scream when her dogs got near. Here\u2019s the aha about all these things that happened to us All these circumstances, that we\u2019d like to blame on COVID-19, might have all happened anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the grand scheme of God\u2019s ways, He is well aware of all our disappointments. I reminded us: \u201cThank God, for the hope we have in Him Who isn\u2019t shaken by what is shaking us.\u201d As I type this blog today, I think \u201cHope springs eternal!\u201d I had to look that quote up to see where it came from. It turns out Alexander Pope, an 18th century English poet, wrote those wise words in “An Essay on Man”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the grand scheme of God\u2019s ways, He is well aware of all our inconveniences and disappointments. I reminded us: \u201cThank God, for the hope we have in Him Who isn\u2019t shaken by what is shaking us.\u201d As I type this blog today, I think \u201cHope springs eternal!\u201d I had to look that quote up to see where it came from. It turns out Alexander Pope, an 18th century English poet, wrote these wise words in An Essay on Man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, does hope really spring eternal? Why do people continue to hope, even if there is no evidence indicating the outcome we desire will come to pass? May I say, unequivocally, that hope doesn\u2019t just spring eternal, it finds its roots in an eternal place.
King Solomon wrote that God \u201chas put eternity into man\u2019s heart.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) That is why we cling to hope through tough times. Those who believe in God \u2013 just know. We know that God has something better in store for us. It\u2019s that hope and trust that something good is going to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We should never doubt that God is working many, many things out in our lives. Because hope springs eternal. Sometimes hope is hard to come by. Notice how the psalmist reminds himself to remember the good things God has done and to put his hope in God. We can do that, too! “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.\u201d (Psalm 42:1-8) God doesn\u2019t tell us everything about our future, nor do we understand the bliss we will experience in heaven; instead, our blessing for now is to have hope, including the hope of heaven that springs eternal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, the co-leaders of what was to have been our 2020 Women\u2019s ACTS 4-day Retreat in April, met to catch-up. Obviously, our retreat didn\u2019t happen, but we\u2019re counting on a coast-is-clear later this year. We\u2019re all still together in heart and spirit. Yes, I was disappointed about the six months of preparing for the retreat…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13568,17731],"tags":[16912,17728,17727,1210,17726,3804,2605,419,17730,17729,39,17724,2610,3428,17725],"class_list":["post-12627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hope","category-hope-springs-eternal","tag-acts","tag-alexander-pope","tag-an-essay-on-man","tag-blog","tag-covid","tag-disappointment","tag-english-poet","tag-eternity","tag-gods-ways-2","tag-grand-scheme","tag-hope","tag-hope-springs-eternal","tag-king-solomon","tag-retreat","tag-wooden-heart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12627"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12632,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12627\/revisions\/12632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}