There is always a little bit of sadness when remembering back on the highlights of one's life. You can't help but wonder why time travels so fast, yet there were moments in your life when you thought you would never get out of a particular phase (like a baby not sleeping through the night). When I think about time, I realize that everything comes to an end. I think it would be hard for anyone to not have "the good old days" imprinted in their memory. Everything changes at some point. A particular group of friends is now spread out and they don't see each other very often. Vacations with kids are different than when they were young and not wrapped up in their own activities.
Time. It has an entirely different meaning when you have been told that you don't have the kind of time you thought you did. You cherish it more, you want desperately to make it count for something, you can't look too far ahead without wondering if you will still be around to see the big events you hope to witness in your children's lives. You can say that we all don't have the assurance that we will live through the next day, but very few people really live thinking those thoughts like a person (and family) diagnosed with a incurable disease. It can sometimes sneak up on you and rob you of the joy of fantasizing about the future. That, of course, is the enemy's doing.
Hope. This word also has a different meaning when you are experiencing a trial that alters all of your dreams of the future. Hope is what helps you to look forward with promise and anticipation, because with hope you have the potential that something could work out for the best. Hope in God is a guarantee that you are on the winning side and that good will come when you give your life to Him.
Psalms 31:24Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.
Psalms 43:5Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
Romans 12:12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Faith in God makes hope limitless. It is only through hope in Christ that all can find peace, not matter what their circumstance is. When I think about the impossible, I am thankful that I have faith in a God that has the power to make all things possible. I don't have to think too hard about the future because my limited knowledge makes me blind to what is around the next corner. God is looking down at the map and knows the exact path I should take, and He knows your path too. A matter a fact, he is looking at a very complex map that intersects lives and opportunity when we all least expect it! How exciting is that! Hope is more than hoping and praying for something. Hope is praying and believing because it is based on the Word of God.
Time can be exciting when you mix it with faith and hope. There is a different anticipation about things to come that are based on an eternal perspective. When I choose to live looking through the front window of my car, rather than the rear window, my journey is full of unrealized joy and excitement.
One of the greatest joys of my life was marrying Jon Boulware. I remember spending a summer watching Love Boat and Fantasy Island on Saturday nights wishing I had a date. Little did I know, God had the perfect man for me right around the corner. God intersected Jon's path with mine on a chance meeting in a jewelry store. Jon has been my rock, and the spiritual leader of our family. I can say without hesitation that because of Jon, I have the confidence and support to do whatever it is that God calls me to do. He is my biggest fan.
I can't imagine a better person than Jon to spend time with. God gave us two beautiful girls to make our life full, but it is the foundation of our marriage in Christ that has given us the courage to press forward even when times are hard. I am thankful for 25 years of marriage, and I look forward to the future with hope, and promises from God, that there are more good things to come!
Sandy
