Hope Floats

This title could go so many ways.  After all a movie in 1996 with Julia Roberts boasted that title.  It could be a new drink. lol. I don't think it would be healthy though.  But what inspired me is totally different.  I started thinking about how with hope things are good, but the minute we start to doubt everything starts feeling like we are sinking.  
It has been that way this past year with my health.  As long as my eyes are on the Lord and what he has for me in this life things are good, no matter what.  But when I look at my circumstances that's when I start to worry or doubt.  
This made me think of an important time of learning for the disciples, especially Peter, during Jesus's time on earth.  The story is in the bible.  In Matthew 14 right after Jesus performs the miracle of feeding 5,000 people.  You would have to read it.  He fed them with one meal that he multiplied.  After that this is what happened: 

Matthew 14:22 is where it starts and it goes through 33.

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Jesus said to him, "You of little faith," which could just as easily be said, trust or hope. To say we are to hope in the Lord may sound strange to you.  But to hope in the Lord is to trust He is who he says he is and can do what he says he can do.  The Psalms are a great area to find encouragement on this.  Here are a few verses from there that are inspirational to me about where my attitude and trust should be.

Psalm 25:5

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

Psalm 25:4-6 (in Context) 

Psalm 25:21

May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, LORD, is in you.

Psalm 25:20-22 (in Context) 

Psalm 31:24

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.

Psalm 31:23-24 (in Context) 

Psalm 33:18

But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,

Psalm 33:17-19 (in Context) 

Psalm 33:20

We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.

Psalm 33:19-21 (in Context) 

Psalm 33:22

May your unfailing love be with us, LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

Psalm 33:21-22 (in Context) 

Psalm 42:5

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Psalm 42:4-6 (in Context) 

Psalm 62:5

Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.

Psalm 62:4-6 (in Context)

Psalm 119:114

You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.

Psalm 119:113-115 (in Context)

I think about how that must have been so encouraging through some really hard times that all God's people went through between when Psalms was written, many believe by King David, and the realization of the new hope they had in Jesus Christ.  When I read the new testament written by the Apostles I can hear how that belief became solid after Jesus's death and resurrection.  Read a few of their words with me:

 Timothy 4:10

That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.

1 Timothy 4:9-11 (in Context) 

Hebrews 6:18

God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.

Hebrews 6:17-19 (in Context) 

Hebrews 6:18-20

God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

My prayer and hope for you is that this will encourage you and will make you crave to know God and the Lord Jesus more.  That you realize that no matter what life throws at you that when your hope is in the right place it changes the way you view life.

Blessings,

Stephanie