Monday Morning Encouragement…
Happy December 1st,
Our Vermont & Maine retreat is now OPEN for registration HERE.
We’re so excited to see who will join us next October for this special retreat in New England. I have a very special guest teacher joining us… I’ll share more soon!
AND, I’ve decided to extend the 15% OFF our Lake Como retreat next June until the end of day tomorrow, Giving Tuesday 12/2, for all of you who see this email. You can Register for this retreat HERE.
Now for some Monday Morning Encouragement…
We’re almost to the end of 2025, and what a YEAR it has been! Has it been a wild ride for you too? I feel like my brain can’t take in all that this crazy year has brought. I won’t begin to recount the weirdness of 2025, but here’s bit of encouragement today.
Yesterday started the 1st week of Advent, which begins with the theme of HOPE. If you’re like me, there’s been a host of things trying to “steal” your hope lately and we need to fight to keep it my friends.
Now HOPE is one of my favorite words… you probably already know that. I’ve taught on this theme at our retreats, I’ve written about it in my devotionals and I’ve blogged about it on many occasions. But this morning I wanted to share a few things our pastor reminded us at church yesterday that I think we could all take a moment to hear.
Lamentations 3 is a familiar part of Scripture, but let’s read it again:
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
Here Are 5 Things HOPE Reminds Us:
Hope is always shining, even in the darkness. This hits home because this year’s theme was on being a “Light for Jesus” and it has not been easy. It seems like every theme the Lord puts on my heart is something He’s WORKING on my heart as well. We’re surrounded by darkness, but we’re called to be the light of HOPE to this world. That is a calling we can’t loose sight of friends.
Hope doesn’t deny there’s hardships, but it does say that the Lord is our portion and He has the final say. Yes, He knows it’s dark out there, He knows we go through hard things… But God provides what we need daily and we can trust in His Sovereignty.
Hope does not put us to shame. Paul talks about this in Romans 5: “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Hope is the anchor we need to be tethered to. We see so many people with no hope these days and it is so sad to watch. We need to share the hope of Jesus with them and show them that hope is not lost! And, hope is not what this world thinks it is…just wishful thinking. No, our hope is anchored to Jesus Christ, and it’s a confident assurance that is tethered to God’s faithfulness! He is SO faithful, if only we open our eyes and see. (I’ll be talking more about this next year in my Art & Faith Journaling)
Hope looks forward with anticipation. Yes, it says it’s good to wait on the Lord, but that doesn’t mean we’re not doing anything. Hope is active. It’s seeking God in His Word, praying continually, walking out this life of faith with the confidence of what Jesus did on the cross for our sins. That HOPE is spurred on because we know He came to REDEEM us and some day He will deliver us from this life, unto the next, where we get to live with Him forever!
All these things we “call to mind” so that, we have HOPE.
Friends, we can have HOPE because God is still working, even when we may not see it. He is the God of {His}story and He is not finished yet!
Have a GREAT 1st week of December!
Hugs to all,
Laura McCollough
Side Note: I’m working on my December Daily today, and I’ll share snippets of it on IG and YouTube all month. Think of it as “A Ralph Lauren Christmas” theme!
Here’s a little Sneak peek…
