Have Great Hope

In 2016 I was doing my internship with a church in Cincinnati called Christ’s Church of Mason Ohio. It was a summer internship from May-August, and one of the more important times that we had during the internship was CIY Move. CIY Move is a trip that we do with our high school students each year in the Summer, and it’s a 5-day long conference with worship, speakers, games, and a lot of fellowship within our group. During this particular week of Move in 2016, I got a call from my parents that my grandpa had gone into the hospital. He was having heart failure and had a lot of fluid in his lungs, and my parents told me that he would most likely pass away within a few days. This was really hard for me because I hadn’t lost anyone within my immediate family up to this point, and it was very sudden. I wasn’t able to prepare myself and being in the middle of this week of camp I couldn’t just leave.

I had to really rely on God to get me through the rest of the week, and this passage was one that I found and read that really gave me a lot of peace. Throughout that time, I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy. I knew that it was going to be a big challenge and that I was going to suffer a lot of pain through it all. But the truth of this scripture is that no matter what happened, and no matter what will happen, the sufferings of this current time – the sufferings of today and tomorrow and for the rest of our lives – are nothing compared to the glory of Christ. They’re nothing compared to the glory of our Father in heaven.

Despite all our fears and trepidation during this challenging time in our world, we have a hope in Jesus Christ. A hope that we renew not only every day, but especially during Easter. We can have faith and trust our Father that he will bring us through all of our pain and suffering because we have the hope that is Jesus Christ. This great hope is one that will never leave us nor forsake us. This hope is a promise that will last for all time, and this great hope is one that we can wait for patiently. We wait patiently because we have confidence in that hope.

Thank you, Father for the great hope that you have given to us with your Son Jesus. We thank you for giving us the hope that we need in all struggles. Thank you for the sufferings that you put in our lives as we know that they give us perseverance to patiently wait for your glory. We ask that you guide us as a church and renew our hope in your promise each and every day. Amen.