expectant hope - (original artwork) - in black floater frame

Back when I was pregnant with my oldest I had planted canna bulbs outside a hallway window that I passed several times a day. One day I walked by and saw a small but bright glimmer of green shooting out from the ground. I had planted the bulbs months earlier, so I had all but forgotten them. (They didn’t require my daily tending, after all.) But the JOY it brought me was beyond what I could have expected. I went outside immediately to marvel at the way the leaves were wrapped so tightly - knowing that they would unfold to be larger than my hands. 

...And I thought to myself, if I’m this excited about a plant (that I had forgotten about) how much more excited will I be for the birth of my son?! This child that I have prayed for and prepared for! 

Then God whispered a reminder of how we should be even more excited about the ever-nearing coming of Christ! The depth of the lesson I found in those little green sprouts still sits with me today! 

When the days seem unending and cold. Press on with perseverance and remember that without fail, the seasons eventually turn. And those first sparkles of green peek out and remind us there’s hope. Hope for beauty. Hope for growth. Hope for new LIFE. And hope does not disappoint (Romans 5:1-5)

Cling to the assurance we have in eternal life found in salvation through Christ. And with eager anticipation, we long for the day when Christ will return. 

He is faithful. He is righteous. He is coming! 

“For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:24-25‬ ‭NASB‬‬