January

A month of frozen fields and painted skies. Bookended with friendship and fellowship, but also scattered with solitude. All of the things I thought I wanted don’t come close to knowing You. Of realizing that we think we are patient, but our Savior is the only true longsuffering One. We are following in the footsteps of a Shepherd who knows exactly where He is going, a King whose heart is always for us. You are my best friend. A month of bone-deep conviction that He must always be first in my heart, that He is our ‘better hope.’ Our hearts are restless until they rest in You. A month of Jesus being sufficient when I couldn’t be. Of being in way over my head studying the Bible and loving it, of awakening to the knowledge that He is everywhere, if we will only look with eyes that want to see. He satisfies the desire of every living thing. A month of seeing that the pace and pressures of our days are bringing us towards a finished faith. Of immeasurable gladness that our lives are hidden with Christ in God, that we can fix our eyes on Him and the cares of this world will fall away. Let Him have the things that hold you. His love is stronger than all the world besides, and our names are written on His heart. Jesus will lead us home. A month of realizing that He makes a home even, and sometimes especially, in the midst of our pain. For the Lord is good. He is now and forever our only Hope. Give me Jesus. We can never find a friend as faithful as Him, for He knows and gladly shares our every sorrow. Take it to the Lord in prayer.

“On the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.” – Hebrews 7:19