… and a lot of what I get to do in my work involves building people up with hope.  It is really a privilege to do so, but it is also a bit of a gamble.  Will people receive the hope I offer, or will they reject it?  Will my visit, message, presence… whatever I’m tasked with… bring a sense of relief or not?  Today, I offer this as an encouragement to you as givers of hope.

Whenever I enter a home or facility where I am to meet with people who may be experiencing fear, stress or anxiety I ask the Lord to help me to be present for the people I will be meeting.  I don’t trust myself to be fully present because I do not, nor cannot possibly know all the nuances of their needs, but He does.  It is reassuring to me to know my place is to be present, trusting the Lord to be in charge of me… and useful to the people we are serving.

So, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I encourage you to approach this day with the same sense of hope, and trust the Lord for His presence to fill your presence, and engage every opportunity with the optimism of hope.

It is my experience that the closer I am to the people with whom I am to offer hope, the more difficult it is to sense the Lord’s presence and to fully trust Him to accomplish the task.  Family is often who need our encouragement, but are often the most difficult for us to hold that ground as a messenger of Christ’s hope.  So, don’t be discouraged about the difficulty, rather refocus your attention to the source of our hope… in our Lord Jesus the Christ… who conquered death and forgives sins, and go on and trust Him to be present in you.  Remember, our loved ones are His loved ones… and you and I are His ambassadors of hope to the people in our lives.

For His glory,

Pastor Mike