Does it fill you up and make your heart soar? Or does it sting a little bit? I am certain you can think of times in your life when you had lots of it. I am also certain you can think of other times where hope was lacking.

We are ushering in the Advent season. I’m curious, what comes to your mind at the beginning of Advent? If I’m honest, I’m not sure hope is at the forefront for me. Maybe at certain moments, sure; but I know I’m not alone in saying that the holiday season can bring up a lot of other emotions. 

Sometimes my heart will fill with hope when I hear the song “O Holy Night.” The line, “a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,” always hits right where I need it. Sometimes, I relate to the weary part more far more than I do the hopeful part. Weary, broken, worried, rejected… All feelings that can be very real this time of year. Advent, when we are “supposed to” be filled with hope. Consider Mary. She was a young teen, living in a culture that completely disregarded and devalued women. She was promised in marriage, but it was assumed that she had committed adultery, a highly punishable sin. She would be divorced, rejected by her betrothed and the world. 

In 2024, we know the whole story of what happened to Mary. We can read it in just a few paragraphs in the Bible and easily skim through most of it. We see her obedience to the Lord, and are in awe of her faith. And yet, I can’t help but think that Mary may have had moments where she had anything BUT hope. Maybe right before she had to tell Joseph she was with child… or maybe right after. Was she hopeful then? There must have been so many moments where she was terrified, weary and worried. 

And yet, God wasn’t worried. Of course He wasn’t worried! He knew He was going to use Mary. He was going to use this young woman to carry the Messiah. A young woman who would have been tossed aside, punished by law and left to pick up the broken pieces of her life, God would use as the very foundation of his redemptive plan. She was chosen by God.No matter how shattered and splintered the world seems, no matter how weary your heart feels, we can have HOPE that God can and will use what is broken and rejected for the good of His redemptive plan. We see evidence of it all throughout scripture. What HOPE we can have, that even when it feels like the world is crumbling all around us, God is still not worried. He is writing your story to be a stunning tapestry, with His mercy and goodness threaded in and out of every piece.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:6

So, as we enter Advent, maybe we can reframe hope. Maybe this year you can experience Advent with open hands. The broken and rejected pieces of this world, the parts of your story that you wish were different… may we invite Emmanuel, God with us, to use those in spite of and because of their brokenness. More than you can ask, think or imagine, according to HIS power and nothing else. May that be what gives you hope.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

 

By: Kim Giron