C.S. Lewis wrote “There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven, but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else .. . All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it – tantalising glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear.
but if it should really become manifest – if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound itself – you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say ‘here at last is the thing i was made for.’ …it is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the thing we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds, when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work. While we are, this is. If we lose this, we lose all." C.S.Lewis The Problem of Pain (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1962), 145-146.
Used by written permission of Ronald Barba © 2012, for more information please click on photo
Yesterday morning after much thought and prayer, I decided to add the SSL certificate to my website so all who come might feel safe. I don’t sell anything or receive money at my website so perhaps it wasn’t necessary; however, with so much evil on the web it was a layer of safety for my readers that I chose to add. Then it happened, the site seemed to
have shut down or crashed. Forty minutes on the phone with the obviously young man—some computer guru and nothing had gotten better. I had to leave for work. With a heart that was suddenly crushing inside, all I could do was cry out, groaning before God. Was it this small thing that crushed me so or a culmination of so many things? Here I stood with all the weight of the losses from my entire life; suddenly crushed by the insecurities at work, the financial stress of caring for mom, the self loathing from all my failures, and that unrelenting feelings of my own inability to perfectly love God with all my desire above all else, all of the time as I should. Why God? Why, when the only thing I want is You and to be able to tell everyone else about you? I finished getting ready for work and I checked my website one last time and it was fixed; furthermore, it was now a secured site as I had planned. It was restored in such a manner that it was like a whispering echo of hope from God. I realized it was not the website that had so distressed me. It was all the trials of life weighing down at once with all the sense of feeling inadequate. It was that great desire to “please God” by never groaning or grumbling within. I so wanted to reflect His Glory by standing with unrelenting faith and joy in the midst of whatever this world throws at me; yet, at moments deep in the darkest recesses of my heart failing to do just that. Still there it is, hope. Then late yesterday, I got a message from a friend I had not heard from in a while. Out of nowhere came a message of hope and encouragement, because God whispered in their ear to write me. That is the marvelous way God always reminds us of His Grace.
Our hope is not one that comes out of frivolous giddiness and joys in the counterfeit joys of this world. There are those echoes of God’s joys which reach us every day to ever remind us of His great love for us and to point us ever forward in this journey to seek for that day when we shall be ever present with Him for eternity. Frustrations may come, sorrows may fill our hearts at times, and there are moments when all we can do is groan; yet, those are only reminders that this is not our final resting place. There is only one thing that can truly satisfy our souls. We were made to be covered by His Joy, His love and to share in His Glory as His Adopted, Redeemed Children forever with Him. That is the hope that causes our hearts to rise from the ashes and to sing a song of joy in the midst of any circumstance. That is what Paul has pointed us to in Romans 8.
Romans 8: (GNV)” 21 Because the creature also shall be delivered from the [at]bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.22 For we know that every creature groaneth with us also, and [au]travaileth in pain together unto this present.23 [av]And not only the creature, but we also which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we do sigh in [aw]ourselves, waiting for the adoption, even [ax]the redemption of our body.24 [ay]For we are saved by hope: but [az]hope that is seen, is not hope: for how can a man hope for that which he seeth?25 But if we hope for that we see not, we do with patience abide (wait) for it.”
Listen to this incredible song I found. Christ in Us is Our Hope of Glory.
1599 Geneva Bible (GNV)
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
© 2014 Effie Darlene Barba
Artwork is used with written permission of Ronald Barba who owns the copyright. His work can be found at: http://fineartamerica.com/art/all/ronald+barba/all
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to any brands, products or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides regarding the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”