Burdened but Hopeful

Lately, I have had an angst that I couldn't quite put my finger on...it will creep up on me and overwhelm me pretty quickly if I am not diligent in keeping my focus on Jesus!  Over the past few years, really my whole life, God has been leading, building and guiding me towards a vision for community that is I think what He intended His people to live in.  This dream, this hope is beautiful and amazing but also broken and heartbreaking.  

I am learning that the beauty comes in the brokenness.  The LOVE of Christ is best displayed in the hurt, the hard, and the tragic.  With the recent weather events, we have had the opportunity to see people step up and live/love the way God has always intended for us.  But why.......

does it take a hurricane?

does it take cancer?

does it take the loss of a child?

does it take the rape/abuse of a friend?

does it take the kidnapping of a child?

does it take the loss of a loved one to drugs or alcohol or depression or fill in the blank?.....

For us to realize what is important and to follow Jesus and His lead.  We are ALL created in God's image!  In His image means we were created to LOVE others sacrificially!!!  Sacrifice, that is the key word...we are so quick to sacrifice our money, time, possessions, self in the tragic or hard but what about our day to day?

What would this world look like if ALL believers and followers of Christ followed His lead of obedience to our Heavenly Father?  If we loved sacrificially daily!  Because from where I am sitting, this world is only getting harder, the hurt, destruction, disease, addictions, tragic is all around us.  

The HOPE comes in the promise of eternal life in a place called Heaven.  In "Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven."  God's will can be done on earth, but WE have to be the instruments of that. We have to love unconditionally as He has shown us!  There is HOPE in the broken.  Jesus went to the cross to bear our sins, don't let that be in vain!  We are given free will to CHOOSE Him and we are given free will to FOLLOW Him after we do.  

There is no HOPE in this world without Jesus, without sacrificial LOVE.  Therefore I choose to continue to walk in obedience and to say YES to God's call even though I don't feel capable on my own. I will continue to walk in hope for the future with the amazing community of people that He has put in my path.  I will choose not to be overwhelmed by the burden but to trust Him to show me what to do and who to love and where to go and how to do it.  And when I don't know what to do or what to say, I will ask Him to lead and then I will follow.  Without the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, I am nothing.  

Great song that just came on as I listen this post!  Coincidental, I think not!  Let's be honest, let's embrace the broken, let's walk in His love and His community every day!