Tag: hope

Keep your Eye on the Bell

~ Barbara ~ 2 Comments

Nine-year-old Zoe surprised me when she said she wanted to attempt the rock-climbing wall. I watched her harness up, admiring my granddaughter’s adventurous spirit. Once secure, she started the climb but didn’t get far when she began to struggle. Flailing, she finally pushed off and eased the rope to let herself down. Her face wore defeat and her lower lip quivered as she listed all the reasons she didn’t make it to the top. The footings were uneven, the wall grazed her knee, she got confused where to step next and which rock to grasp. We stood back and watched others nimbly climb the wall and ring the bell at the top, proclaiming their success. I knew Zoe would try again.

This time she scaled the wall easily and grinned down at me when the bell rang out her victory. Once her feet were back on the ground, I asked her why she succeeded this time. “I didn’t look at the footings at all and I shook it off when I hit the wall,” Zoe said. Then she added the zinger, “I just kept looking up at the bell.” Zoe learned a lesson that day that extended beyond a rock-climbing wall.*

Obstacles, insecurities, and fear are glaringly visible and hard to ignore. But God offers us a way to move past them that requires simple action but determined willpower. Isaiah gives us the key in chapter 40, verse 26:

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens.

In essence he’s saying, take your eyes off your problem and look up at your Creator. Let your focus be on the Problem-Solver, not on the problem. This simple action will change your perspective, raise your spirit, and give you hope.

*Taken from I Was Broken, Too, Four Paths to Restore Hope by Barbara Higby, page 20.

There is a River

~ Barbara ~ 1 Comment

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy place where the Most High dwells.
Psalm 46:4

I whisper to my soul, “There is a river,” and my heart stills. With those simple words, I am assured, satisfied, quieted. As an earthly resident of a heavenly city, I treasure the assurances I find in the following verses of Psalm 46.

  • “God is within her, she will not fall.” The kingdoms of this world are in tumult—wars erupt and evil devastates the land and its people. But there is a city of peace where God dwells and prepares for our arrival. I see hints of it in the rivers that flow out of it and reveal God’s grace.
  • “God will help her at break of day.” Every morning God is present to support us, to show us His lovingkindness, and to give us guidance and strength. He keeps us safe until the day we go home and see Him.
  • “Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; He lifts his voice, the earth melts.” Chaos seems to reign on earth—it is undeniably present, but it is not sovereign, God is. The warfare that rages is not against a nation’s armies or our “enlightened” political ideologies, but against evil forces that are not human. All these kingdoms will fall and then… God will lift His voice and, at His word, the world as we know it will melt.

There will be a new world. Our life will be one of peace, and joy, and remarkable revelations of truth. All will be made clear and beauty will abound. We will enter the city of God and drink from its streams because “There is a river,” and it will make us glad.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, 
since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18

Happy New… Anticipation!

~ Barbara ~ 1 Comment

I am anticipating good things in 2025. I have no inside knowledge or prophetic insight. I am not relying on America’s political change or expecting world peace. I am not an irrepressible romantic or stubborn optimist. My expectation is solely based on the goodness of God.

I expect Him to be good and show me mercy.

I look forward to God’s faithfulness arriving new every morning.

I am eager for fresh discoveries of His nature and manifestations of His love.  

I believe He controls times and seasons, leaders and nations, relieving me of fear.

I hope in surprising revelations of His character, His care, and His love.

I anticipate God’s goodness will shine bright in 2025.

I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living. Psalm 27:13

Image by dana279 from Pixabay

Isaiah and Jesus, Hope

~ Barbara ~ 1 Comment

Good news brings light to dark places. It offers an exhale of relief. It relieves the heaviness of a burden.

Jesus was anointed to proclaim good news—to the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, the sorrowing.

We all deal with poverty, possibly financial but perhaps emotional poverty. We also have been brokenhearted, for a variety of reasons, including loss and betrayal. We know how it feels to be held captive, whether our captors are haunting fears, debilitating habits, daunting guilt, abusiveness, obsession, or something else. We also know what it is to mourn and grieve, be it over the death of a loved one, of a marriage, our purpose, or cherished dreams.

This is why the first three verses of Isaiah 61 fall like water over our thirsty souls.

We read that Jesus offers us hope, binding up our broken hearts, freeing us from captivity, releasing us from darkness, comforting us in our mourning, and providing for us in our grief.

He replaces our ashes with a crown of beauty, gives us joy in place of sorrow, replaces our despair with praise.

Christmas is about so much more than the nativity scene we display on our lawn or fireplace mantle. The Messiah has come! He is our rescue and our salvation. He gives us hope and changes our weak selves into strong oaks of righteousness. He firmly plants us as displays of His splendor.

Merry Christmas, my Splendorous Friends!