What would your key say?
A key of hope. I am wearing one.
When someone tells you that, you might think, why, yes I am. My necklace does say hope and I am wearing it. Or the Lord might dig deeper into that statement. Causing you to think about spiritually wearing a key of hope, the Hope of the world and the Hope for eternity. Do I realize the gravity of holding that key? Do I remember that Jesus has instilled His hope in my testimony and I hold that key for others to receive?
When I originally had the key made, I desired to wear the key as a reminder for my dream. The dream to open the community center. To start something only the Father could accomplish through me. And to never give up hope in pursing that dream. To always hold fast to His hope that he has a plan, a way, a purpose. He will always provide. A promised Hope, an anchor for the soul.
But this week, the key drew a deeper meaning.
As I heard the statement from the receptionist at my chiropractor. Her statement “you are wearing a key of hope” continued to play in my mind. I wasn’t sure why it stuck, but it did.
Fast forward 1 hour, I arrive at work and walk downstairs to our all staff worship session. As we are worshipping, the Lord brings the statement back up. That is when the Lord made it click. When I realized that I don’t just physically wear that necklace of Hope, but that my life is a story of Hope. I carry His Hope everywhere I go and I have the chance to bring that hope to everyone I interact with.
Fast forward 20 minutes, as worship ended, a leader at Adventures got up to share a message with us. The message was about our testimonies.
He then says this statement:
Our faith is based on what we hope for (see Hebrews 11:1). So, our hope develops our faith. Therefore, if the enemy stills our hope, he steals our faith.
This was convicting. I realized that so many times, I do let the enemy steal my hope, which in turn shrinks my faith. I lose hope, I lose faith.
However, the leader continued to share about the purposes of sharing our testimonies. As we remind our flesh of the testimonies of the Lord’s work in our hearts, we are reminding ourselves of His character and it reinstates our hope.
“When we give our testimony, we are spreading hope and that hope develops faith.”
He shared how important it is to continue to give account of the what the Lord has done. And these testimonies aren’t necessarily sharing that one moment of salvation where we repented for the first time, but these testimonies can be from our daily walks with the Lord. For example, what has the Lord done in your life in the past week or shown you about His character in the past week?
As I sat there in our large worship space, sharing with Liz a testimony of the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness in my life, I realized how heavy that key of Hope that I “carry” is. It changes the atmosphere. It spreads life and light. It builds up faith of those around me. And all I need to do is share it, in simple ways: words and actions. That Key of Hope; vocalized, shared, and lived out.
P.S. To learn more about my [Hope inspired] dream of a community center, feel free to check this out!
Beth, you are always so encouraging! My friend’s husband is going through throat cancer, tragic. I plan on sharing your words of hope. The Lord continually works in hearts open to Him, like yours.
Ms. Grissom, I am so glad that this was encouraging and can be used to encourage someone else. I will be praying for your friend and her husband as well!