This morning I had the privilege of sharing a devotion with our middle and upper school faculty.\u00a0 It was a weighty challenge for me to consider and I hope it will be an encouragement to you!<\/p>\n
Over the course of the last several weeks, God has really been speaking to my heart a powerful message of HOPE.\u00a0 It seems to be the theme of everything I read, things I see, and conversations that I have.<\/p>\n
I just finished reading the book The Noticer<\/a> by Andy Andrews. (Check out my review here<\/a>)\u00a0 The whole premise of the book is understanding that you were created by God to do something great.\u00a0 Sometimes all it takes is someone to remind you of that every once in a while.\u00a0 How many times have you noticed someone around you that needs some encouragement?\u00a0 How many times have you acted on that?\u00a0 The Noticer is about being the catalyst that can activate the hopes and dreams that get locked up in a person due to feelings of inadequacy and failure.<\/p>\n Last Thursday night, NCCS hosted Dave Ramsey\u2019s Town Hall for Hope<\/a>.\u00a0 (Check out my review here<\/a>)\u00a0 He spent time talking about the economy and what God\u2019s Word has to say about our finances.\u00a0 He challenged the listeners to avoid \u201cthe loser talk\u201d.\u00a0 It is so easy for us to get caught up in the negative things about the economy and our world right now.<\/p>\n God really convicted me about how easy it is to get caught up in the loser talk.\u00a0 It is so much easier to commiserate with all that is going wrong than it is to celebrate the things that are going great.<\/p>\n As we consider our own school, it is easy to look at next year\u2019s enrollment and be discouraged that it is lower than we anticipated.\u00a0 But\u2026instead shouldn\u2019t we be excited that close to 700 kids are already reenrolled for next year?\u00a0 In this economy where everyone is watching every dollar\u2026we have that many families that are investing in eternity by choosing Christian education for their child!<\/p>\n Is it easy to complain that the master site plan isn\u2019t blazing along as fast as we hoped?\u00a0 Sure, but how many of us have come from other schools or visited other schools that would be over the moon to have the facilities we currently have?\u00a0 How often are we thankful for the nice buildings that we already have?\u00a0 Spend some time talking to the people who were here 25 years ago when our school started and hear the excitement in their voices as they talk about when they moved in to the buildings we currently have.<\/p>\n Do I realize that we are surrounded by people who are looking for jobs?\u00a0 People that we currently work with are looking for jobs.\u00a0 Am I grieved by that?\u00a0 Definitely!\u00a0 I love these folks, but I pray that they find hope in the fact that God loves them way more than any of us ever could.\u00a0 He desires for them to be fulfilled and for their families to be provided for.\u00a0 I\u2019d much rather place my hope in Him than in a job or an organization.\u00a0 God has a plan for all of us!<\/p>\n God drew my attention the other day to I Peter chapter 1 starting in verse 13\u2026<\/p>\n Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”<\/p>\n Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.<\/p>\n Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, I love the part where this passage talks about the empty way of life that was handed down to us by our forefathers and the fact that Jesus was chosen before the creation of the world to redeem us so that through His resurrection and victory over death, our faith and hope are in God!\u00a0 If that doesn\u2019t get you fired up, I don\u2019t know what will!<\/p>\n God has used these verses and several powerful messages of hope to challenge me to focus on Him and not allow Satan to distract me from what God is doing in and around me at all times.<\/p>\n
\n“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.<\/p>\n