Jodi Beth Cross

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Hope for 2021

Happy New Year!! I have had so many feelings and emotions about this year: gratefulness and grieving, new experiences and loss of experiences, holding loved ones close and holding plans loosely.

During advent and through Christmas, I have been having this thought rolling around in my head. Galatians 4:4 says “But when the time had fully come , God sent His son, born of a woman, born under the law.”

God is saying that in the a particular time, season, a succession of moments, of uncertain duration that there will be a completion, a filling up, a loss repaired, abundance, a realization of something appointed and prescribed by God.

I took this on my morning walk, the ray of light cutting through the dark clouds was a promise to me, to us: God will always be there ~ even at the darkest times.

When it was the right time, Jesus was born. When the succession of events lined up, Jesus came. There were 400 years that God was silent, He stopped speaking through the prophets until Jesus came. Then God was not only speaking, He was walking and showing who He was. That’s a long, silent wait for a promise of the Messiah.

I don’t know about you, but the in-between time of waiting is hard. Doubt and questions can replace hope and faith. There is pain and disappointment of not seeing the dream become a reality but it’s time to hope again.

Because we know who God is and His faithfulness we can pray: “Lord, when the time is right, let those things we are promised, hoping for and dreaming about come. We trust You!”

No matter what the new year holds, we can trust our living, loving God.

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1

This is one of my favorites: “Know therefore that the Lord, your God; he is the the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.” Deuteronomy 7:9

The song at the end is our prayer for you and your families.

All Our Love ~
Dean and Jodi xo

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