Heart Hope by Olga

It made me feel a bit uneasy to see the repairman sitting Indian style on the floor in front of the range in our church kitchen. He was holding a bundle of wires untwisting them while referring to a piece of paper in his lap. The paper happened to be the instruction manual. My first thought was if he does even know the difference between the red and blue wires and where they should be connected, how much does he really know about appliance repair. But upon further thought I realized that it was a good thing that he was at least smart enough to know that he needed to make sure he put everything together correctly for the safety and protection of our congregation. What could be worse than someone getting shocked or the building catching on fire simply because he didn't care to make sure the wires were properly installed? We too have an instruction book for life; it's called the Bible. There are people who think they know it well enough that they don't need to ...

The Bible is filled with the word remember, but one seems to stand alone. There are things that God remembers: His covenant forever 1 Chronicles 16:15 His people and He will bless us Psalm 115:12 And there are things that we are to remember: The Sabbath Exodus 20:8 His commands Numbers 15:39 God’s wonders, miracles and judgments 1 Chronicles 6:12 What God has done Deuteronomy 7:18 The poor Galatians 2:10 Those in prison Hebrews 13:3 What we have received and heard Revelation 3:3 All of these seem reasonable, but then we see that we are to “Remember Lot’s wife.” (Luke 17:32) At first glance she doesn’t seem worth remembering, after all her name is not mentioned and we only read about her a couple of times in the Bible. We know that she went with Lot to the area of Sodom and we know that when she had to flee the area before the total destruction, she was told not to look back. And we also know that she disobeyed and was turned into a pillar of sal...

What do you do when you are late? Rush? Fuss? Speed? Stress? Complain? I was having one of those mornings a couple of weeks ago. It was the first day of Bible study and I needed to be there early. My delicious Quinoa Breakfast Casserole didn’t want to cooperate. The recipe said to cook it for 1 hour, but it wasn’t near ready as it sloshed in the pan when I removed it from the oven.  I scurried to the car assuming there would be time to finish cooking it when I arrived. However there would be another hiccup along the way—the road construction. As I approached the worksite, the worker slowly rotated his sign requiring me to stop. “Lord you know I don’t have time to stop,” was the thought going through my mind. However it quickly dissipated as I looked up to see the beautiful bronze eagle reflecting the morning sunlight. My thought then became, “You don’t have time not to stop.” It was then that I realized that I needed to see that eagle to remind me to pray, ...

I was having a moment...one I was not proud of. I was totally self focused and was questioning God about my future. We were in the process of trying to figure out God's will for our lives and in the immediate future where to move. In reality it was pretty much a pity party and I was the lone attendee. Laying face down with my face smothered in the pillow, I couldn't get my mind to quit the what ifs, if onlys and why's out of my mind, until I was jerked back into reality. It was as if God asked me, what were you just reading about? My mind quickly rewound to the Bible study lesson that I had just completed before going to bed. It focused on the prayer of Nehemiah and the names and attributes of God that he knew and loved: Yahweh (LORD)-the personal I AM God. He is the one who was, and is and is to come. God of Heaven-the God who reigns over not just heaven, but also sovereignly rules over this earth Great and awesome God-one that we can be astounded and in aw...