Hope in the Scent

What mindset and state of heart do we need to get us through a period of hardship, bleakness, or poor health? at one time or another, one or more of those negative things will visit us during our lifetime.

The last year and a half, unfortunately, was another opportunity to show how we handled an intense level of adversity, loneliness, and sickness. Thankfully we pushed through it to be where we are today! I am grateful to see the way that we have navigated the valleys and the peaks of the pandemic to this point.

The hardest part of it, so far, was frightening because many of us were critically ill and others did not survive their sickness. It was surreal because not many had lived through a pandemic and isolation because of the need to shelter in place for an extended period. Though it became a vehicle that ushered us into a sort of societal metamorphosis that we all were forced to endure, mostly for the good, for many of us, it was an extremely painful process. The mindset and state of our heart were our main focus other than maintaining sound physical health.

We discovered ways to endure and overcome the hardships that the pandemic brought upon us. We had to sustain a sense of mental and emotional stability and we did that by standing on the hope that God would carry us through the worst of it. What did you tell yourself and your family to preserve your hope in God's power to pull you through?

I want to bring you words of hope from people who needed hope in large measure. "Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud," said Maya Angelou. "We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope," said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it," said Lena Horne.

The last word of hope that I want you to think about comes from the Bible reading for this Sunday, Job 14:7-9. It's the basis of our theme for Rally Day and this new program year. Do a little background reading on who Job was and his story. It is one of the hall-of-fame stories that is a true account of the Bible and is popular throughout Western culture. When you read it, let it bring you back to the words that brought you strength and hope over the past 18 months.

I want you to know that like Job, God will be with us and sustain us, but there will be times that may seem similar to what he went through. However, we will understand much better how to forge onward if we hide the words of this passage from Job in our minds and hearts to get us through the rest of this journey we must travel intact. Amen!