You're going to have a big family, Abraham!

       Happy (almost) Easter, everybody! I'm sorry I don't have more to say on the subject but that Jesus' death and resurrection should give us TONS of hope in situations we would otherwise find hopeless.
    
         I know that sometimes, as humans, we get what we expect. (duh, Emnet!) I would try to find a more clever way to phrase what I'm trying to say, but that's kind of the fact of life that I'm seeing here. We get what we expect. We get what we expect, and what we get is what we got. For instance, when I don't eat breakfast, I can expect to daydream my way through third period because I just want to go to lunch. See what I mean? I get what I expect. I get hungry when I don't eat, and I don't expect myself to focus easily. If I don't sleep the entire night, I'm not surprised later that I haven't been able to stay awake throughout the day.
         I know there are varying factors, but you see my point. I'm just trying to say that we oftentimes see what we've done, and we can predict the consequences of our actions. We simply expect what we deserve. I think that's one of the reasons why we feel so let down when we make deals with people and they don't hold up their end: we feel like we deserved it. We feel like we deserve a good grade when we stay up all night studying, and we feel like we deserve allowance when we do our chores. Or whatever. It's a prediction of the consequence we feel as though we're entitled to because of our actions.
       But now I'm gonna play the grace card. The one I've talked about in former posts, and the one that God introduces in my life so unexpectedly that I'm left in awe. The one that flips things upside-down for me and makes things OK to be "unfair." Grace is a confusing thing, and I'll never fully understand it. It's one of those things where you're in science class thinking of anything but science, and your mind has time to wander,  and you wonder what it's all about. It's something you think you have figured out after one sermon, but then are perplexed again after reading your bible the next night. It's something that confuses you in theory and stuns you in practice.
        The grace card is something God pulls on me in life when I'm just so down on myself, so beat-up and tired that I'm just expecting what I deserve and bracing myself for the worst, and God just shows up out of seemingly nowhere and gives me hope that I shouldn't have. Hope I shouldn't even dare to long for.
       God's a God of the imperfect, but He's also a God of the hopeless.
  
        There are times in my life when I've completely eliminated grace, and think I have it coming, then He comes to my rescue. And, for a girl who has a hard time forgiving herself, I'm not good at taking what I believe I don't deserve. It's like, you beat a kid up at recess, and your teacher gives YOU an ice cream cone for saying sorry. It doesn't even make sense, but that's God and Jesus. I beat Him up on the cross (Good Friday), and I got the ice cream cone of abundant life  I don't deserve on Easter. I just had to say sorry. Because of this grace He's given us, we are put in a position where we should hope in times of hopelessness. I don't know if that is good use of English to explain my point, but I'm sayin that, when you're down on your knees with nowhere to look but up, you can expect mercy. I mean - the bible tells me so:
           Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
        
           I can expect grace. It's not even called being unfair anymore, it's called faith. You can believe in God's promises, like that of Hebrews 4:16, and not because we earned it in some fashion or another, but because Jesus earned it for us. It's absolutely just and completely unfair. It's how God balances out His loving aspect with His merciful aspect. (Only a God as cool as ours can make His mercy and justice work in our favor - He loves us so much He chose to hurt Himself and only Himself in the process. Happy Easter to THAT!)
          Anyyhoowww. I was really questioning my ability to handle life itself when God threw this verse at me:
           When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, "You're going to have a big family, Abraham!"
 - Romans 4:18

       
         The entire world, just like Abraham, found itself in a predicament of hopelessness some thousand years ago when Jesus swept in and saved the day. Those who had faith were those who saw not what they could do, but what God could do to save them. I mean, without faith, would you be able to believe a promise as ridiculous as the one God promised Abraham? Like, GOD. I'M OLD. but no. You're not too old because you serve the author of time, He can do anything He wants with you and if you want Him to He can help you (ha! that rhymed!). 

         It's really easy for me to look at the world sometimes and expect what I deserve, but now is the best time to put on some faith goggles and see an eternal side to things...Yes, I'm frustrated, and yes, I have a lot I have to deal with...but I have grace, and I'm not going to get what I deserve because I'm gonna ask in faith for different. I'm gonna boldly go to the throne of grace and ask for what I was promised instead of what I was expecting. If God tells me I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, then I believe I can. Even the things I think I shouldn't be able to without fully earning. 

         I'm not promoting laziness or anything like that, but when I fall short, I'm learning to let God pull me forward as I need it. (can you just imagine yourself falling down as a little kid and then having God come pick you up and sit you down in a little red wagon and pull you along?). And sometimes I really need it. 

       There's a song I love where at the end it's God talking to someone saying: 

 "Now have faith in what you hope for and not in what you see 

Believe in what I say to you and keep your eyes on Me 

Don't doubt what I can do, I love you just like that."

             God is love. He loves me, He loves you, and He's on our side. He's on our team. He's rooting for us cuz we're HIS players. He'll call a timeout if we need one, even when we don't think we deserve it...and you know what He deserves? A whole lotta' love. 

Enjoy this song &  give the King of Hope a great, big "thank you" this Easter. I love you guys, and I hope this somehow in someway reminds you of how much you love God. Have a blessed Easter Sunday! I know I will :)