If There Was Ever a Time...

Never have I ever been so eager for the last sunset of an old year, for never have I ever experienced a year like this one.  And yet, if I am truly honest, never have I ever questioned so intensely, is it only going to get worse from here?  I hope not, but I know not. 

Two of my close friends and I decided to join the word of the year bandwagon.  While I don't yet know theirs, I'm going to cut in here *spoiler alert* with mine.  Better yet, I chose a noun AND an adjective 'cause 2021 is going to require double duty I do believe. 

Brave Hope.

One of the points that was driven through my brain time and again in grad school is the importance of giving a counselee hope.  Hope is life-giving and life-changing.  When you believe that your current state of affairs can be redeemed and transformed, you are way more likely to put the effort in to make it happen. Best of all, hope is intensely biblical when it is rooted in God.

"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit," ~Romans 15:13 (NASB).

The ticket here is believing.  Not in a vague Disney, New Agey rendition of that word that is looking more inward than outward, trying to cook up an inner transformational light.  Rather, biblical believing is a clear and fixated assurance that the One I surrendered my life to is the One Whose perfect narrative I am watching unfold before me eyes, even now, especially now.  It is an acknowledgment that the name of His narrative is "Redemption," and its culmination will be beyond glorious when I am conformed to the image of His Son Jesus, with Him for all eternity, and joined by every nation, tribe, and tongue.  

Friends, here's the deal....I don't know how much longer I will be wearing a mask.  I don't know how many freedoms will be stripped from American Christians in coming months.  I don't know when some of my personal heartaches will be resolved.  But I do know this...

• If there was ever a time for women of God to put their game face on, it's now.
• If there was ever a time to speak the truth in love, it's now.
• If there was ever a time to put off complaining, it's now. (That in and of itself is radical.)
• If there was ever a time to take stock of the theology (or me-ology) we are listening to, it's now. 
• If there was ever a time to be faithful to orthodoxy, it's now. 
• If there was ever a time to fast and pray, it's now. 
• If there was ever a time to be non-Instagramable faithful, it's now. 
• If there was ever a time to dig into the faith of Christian heroes of the past, it's now.

If there was ever a time to be brave and hopeful, it's now.

"But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD, I say, 'You are my God'.... Be strong and let your heart take courage, All you who hope in the LORD," ~Psalm 31:14, 24 (NASB).