Hope is something that fills you with anticipation and a positive outlook. As a little girl I remember making wine with my father. He would go out and buy many crates of his favourite grapes and then the fun would begin. I would put on my rubber boots and I would help my father squish the grapes with my feet. My father would squish the grapes barefoot but I didn’t want to have purple stains on my feet like him so I put on my little boots. After the grapes were all squished the juice would be put in barrels and my father would hope and anticipate the good wine.

Jesus is my reason to hope. His very name means ‘God Saves’.  He came into the world not just to save us from our sins, but also to fill us with wisdom and understanding and to help us to know that regardless of what challenges we might be facing we will not face them alone. He will be with us.

I remember many years ago, my Father-in-Law contracted throat cancer. The doctor that operated on him was one of the top surgeons in his field and he was not optimistic. The prognosis following the surgery was that he had about a thirty per cent chance of living one year. I remember praying to Jesus telling Him that I knew the situation was desperate but that I knew He could heal him and I prayed for a little more time. Well, Jesus answered my prayer! My Father-in-law didn’t die within that year. He lived another fifteen years with us! The doctor was stunned! He used to come and visit my Father-in-law, Luigi, and they became friends. The doctor would kiss Luigi at the end of his visit with him. I am pretty sure the doctor knew that God had performed a miracle! I think Luigi filled the doctor with hope.

Miracles happen! God performs them and they are reasons to hope! Jesus heals us, but not just physically, Jesus also heals us emotionally and spiritually.  Most of us have endured some form of injustice in our life. People have hurt us and especially when there is no ‘I’m Sorry’ we can harbor feelings of anger and even desire for retribution. This Christmas let Jesus heal your heart and fill you with hope. Part of that process involves surrendering all of your pain to Him. Ask Jesus for the grace to set you free from anger and pray for the grace to be able to forgive. Forgiveness is freedom; forgiveness is the first step in building a new life full of hope where the shadows of the past do not limit the opportunities for joy in the present.

Our lives are gifts from God and God has designs for our lives, but sometimes His masterpiece remains unfinished because we don’t give Him the gift He wants—TRUST!

“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you.” Psalm 37: 4-5

Enter the cave of the nativity and look at your Saviour Jesus Christ. What strikes me the most is how vulnerable God allows Himself to be. Look at Him, the Omnipotent One, the Holy One, a newborn child, resting in the arms of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  A woman is chosen by God and filled with His grace to give birth to Our Saviour.  How God believed in Mary’s fidelity!  She is entrusted to care for God’s Only Son Jesus. Let us rest in the arms of Jesus, trusting that God will take care of us if we just give Him a chance.

Take a chance on Jesus! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain, if you truly choose to trust in Him and give Him your life.

“Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7  “Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.” Psalm 62:8

Acknowledge your own vulnerability and need for God’s grace. We live in a world where people are taught to be strong and independent. Real men don’t cry, right?  Wrong!  Real men cry! Real women cry! Cry out for the forgiveness of Jesus! Cry out for Him to become One with You. That’s what holiness is: Oneness with God. When we give God our life and confess our sins to Him, He forgives us and fills us with faith, hope and love.

“Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” 1 Corinthians 13:7

Faith is like the roots of the tree that spread out and run deep into the ground reaching for nourishment and life giving water. Faith gives birth to hope.  Hope is like the branches of the tree that extend its arms high and wide like an embrace waiting and anticipating the promise of its existence. Hope gives birth to love.  Love is like the fruit of the tree that is the fulfillment of its life’s purpose and the meaning of its existence.

The tree was cut down and the Saviour Jesus Christ lied down on His creation. He opened His arms wide allowing Himself to be nailed to the tree.  Jesus became ONE with the Tree so that He could give us the fruit of eternal life.   The Cross, a cruel instrument of torture becomes to us who believe in Jesus the sign of our salvation. This was God’s plan of redemption.  Jesus would die not just to prepare a place for us in paradise, but also to prepare a place for Himself in our hearts, hearts that He Himself would nourish with His love and transform with His grace.

Hope dies when people begin to feel alone and without support. When I learned to be a distress center counselor, I took a course on ‘suicide intervention’. When people become suicidal it is common for them to cut off ties with friends and family.   Healing occurs when people begin to find a reason to fight for their lives, a reason to begin hoping again. During this healing process we need to reassure depressed people that they are loved and needed.

YOU ARE LOVED AND YOU ARE NEEDED!

God’s plan of salvation depends on your active participation. Reciprocity – giving and receiving is key to how God works. God doesn’t want to work alone. God wants to work with you. God has a plan to turn each of us into His masterpiece, but we must be like the clay willing to surrender to the hands of the potter.  “And yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.” Isaiah 64:8

One winter I went out into my garden to find a surprise waiting for me. The pansies I had planted in the summer were peaking through the snow. They were alive! How could that be?  I wondered how could that little fragile flower be living in such harsh conditions.

“The word pansy comes from mid 15th century French from the word ‘penser’;  meaning to think or ponder over something… In Victorian England, the pansy flower was used for secret courting.  Any display of love or passion was severely frowned upon and in order to communicate to potential romantic partners the  pansy was employed.  It was placed in what was called a tussie mussie which was a bunch of herbs wrapped in a doily with some flowers in the middle.  The pansy flower was used to convey feelings not easily expressed in Victorian England such as I’m feeling amorous towards you, I am thinking of you or I have thoughts of you or I’m missing you, but always it was about one person thinking of another.” Source: http://www.flowermeaning.com/pansy-flower-meaning/

I think the pansy living in the snow was God’s way of saying: ‘My love for you will never die! Remember Me!”

I invite you to remember Jesus in a special way each day of your life. Never let a day go by without thanking Him for dying for you. Never let a day go by without praying! Never let a day go by without remembering His Passion and praying for the salvation of all souls.

Fourteen years ago I was not going to Church and I had never read the Bible. The Bible has now become not just my favourite book, but my lifeline to God that teaches me His Way and His Will. It was God’s design for me that I begin studying His Word so I could become an evangelist. It is God’s Will for each of us to be witnesses of His love in our world so broken by sin and violence.

I invite you to join a global Christian peace movement called A Peaceful Revolution in the Name of Jesus Christ. This movement is uniting believers in a moment of remembrance and prayer each day at the time Jesus died for us, 3pm, in our local time zones. We unite as we believe and hope in the power and love of Our Saviour Jesus Christ to silence the forces of evil in our world and to restore our souls to the glory God had in mind when He created us.

This is God’s promise and the reason to hope:  “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14