First Week of Advent 2016 : Hope

Welcome to the season of Advent! Advent comes from the Latin adventus and means "coming." The main event is the coming, or birth, of Jesus our Savior. As the saints of old anticipated the coming of Christ with great expectation, we, too, eagerly await His return. So follow along as my family and I go along on the journey of Advent. If you would like a reminder of what Advent is like here is the last blog post of Advent from last year.

Welcome to the first week of 2016 Advent season. "A single thread of hope is a powerful thing." Hope is to trust in, wait for, look for, or desire something or someone; or to expect something beneficial in the future. So what does hope mean in advent season?

With all of the pain and suffering going on in this world we have to have hope. I see the anger, and the hurt on Facebook daily. It is random strangers fussing and cutting each other down over something they aren't even 100% is the truth, because it is just an article written from a view point. There are moments where I feel those emotions too and want to lash out as well. But I have to remember that the person saying something I disagree with won't care what I have to say because I'm nobody to them.

However, I am somebody to God and to Jesus. I want our country to go in a better direction. I want morals and dignity to return. Self respect to be shown in clothes and makeup. That's why my hope is in the Lord. I find comfort and hope as a believer that someday Christ will take us home where sin and death have no place.

I have to say this year I have gotten a lot better about tossing around the word hope. Plus, I like to think I have gotten better about praying. Praying has been increasingly something I have done more this year. With the help of the app, Echo, I can remember to pray because of a notification on my phone and now Apple Watch. It is wonderful.

Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”