The Substance of Hope is Christ

Time without courage, And time without fear, Is just wasted, wasted, wasted time.

-”Time” by Hootie and The Blowfish 

It’s amazing how quickly things come and go. It seems like just yesterday Freedom and I sat down to plan for our time in the States. Four weeks this time. We found that five weeks was a bit too long to feel like a wanderer, even with much purpose and busyness. 

We laid out the plan and it seemed as though we had meetings sprinkled every other day. These gatherings proved to be portals of love and comfort to us, given generously by Christ’s body on the earth - his people, our family. Even though we couldn’t see everyone, the people we did get to see, if but for a moment, made us feel less alone. 

 All the while, our main task was to help our son find a place to live so that he could go to school and work. It seemed a monumental task for him to relocate and be able to afford to live on his own. I’ll be honest right here and say my anxiety, which has been kept under control for almost a year this time, was through the roof! No matter the tea, supplement, prayers, or meditation; I just could not ease the tension. As though I was holding my breath for a month. Somehow, it seemed nearly impossible. The greater Atlanta map seemed humongous, and the scenarios where it might work seemed minute. We clung to the substance of hope, our faith in Christ. 

How can hope have substance? How does it materialize into something we can hold onto? How can this hope help me open my wringed hands so I could confidently hold onto an anchor to my waves? We recount the faithfulness of God, for they are a foretaste of his promise fulfilled. We lean on the faith of our brethren, and we wait even through long watches of the night. 

Hebrews 11:1 ~ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

A chance meeting?

In the midst of our search, which wasn’t going anywhere, Freedom noticed that his youth pastor from 25 years ago was now living in Georgia. He decided to meet him for coffee. What was a delightful get-together for catching up was coming to an end when the pastor asked Freedom what brought him to Georgia. When the pastor and his wife heard about the search, he remembered something. A friend of a friend was looking for a young person to rent a room nearby. Calls were made, and right there, in a matter of minutes a meeting was set up with a family looking to rent a room. They were looking for a female, but because of the way God put it together, they were willing to meet. The room came with utilities included, month to month rent, furniture, and a home church for good measure. 

It seemed too good to be true, I couldn’t receive the peace yet, and I just knew something must be off. I was still tense and fearful and no other door had opened to even give us a choice. Then one night I awoke to hear the words:

James 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Here it is in the Message:

Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle.

I realized that it was my fear that I was holding onto. I could finally accept this as a good and perfect gift. There was no curveball, nothing to trip on. God was simply taking care of what we could not. 

So how’s it going? It’s great! Joshua is comfortable and safe, in a home of a believing family. He interviewed for a valet job and got hired right away. We could return to Ecuador knowing that we had done what we could and God took care of the rest. Thank you so much for your prayers and allowing us to lean on your faith when we grew weary.