“But do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands.” ~ J. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Eomer

Many today echo Eomer’s thoughts from The Lord of the Rings, thoughts from a man whose country was so upside down, its leadership behaving in ways foreign to its history, its core values, its code of honor. He didn’t trust to hope. He thought hope was lost. . . but it wasn’t.

If we are The Easter People, and Hallelujah is our song (Pope John Paul II), then trusting to hope isn’t just empty poetry. Trusting to Hope is a way of life in the right-side up everyday ordinary and the upside-down everyday ordinary. It’s a foundational stone in overcoming, in loving, in being a son or daughter of the King. It’s in our words, in our walk, in our decisions. . . in our song and our stories.

Some say they believe in Jesus and His Father, but they live fearful, unsure, like a Hermit crab unwilling to trust he will be o.k. if he steps outside his house to make upside-down things change, or that if he does step outside, nothing he can do will change his circumstances.

Maybe it is what we trust to hope in that makes the difference in the results of our hope – do we trust to hope in horses and chariots? Men and might? Laws and judges? Feelings and Comfortableness? Hope that not rocking the boat will calm the sea? Hope that someone else will come along and turn everything right-side up again?

Or do we trust to the hope of God’s promises? That relationship with Him is reliable? True? That He is interested in our everyday ordinary? That He hasn’t lost count of the hairs on our head? That we are as important as a beloved child? That our Father holds the All-is-Well Plan? Do we dare? Dare to Trust the Lord is Good?

Dare to trust the Lord is Good!

Reach to see
to know that He
is within your grasp
to have and to hold
and when your grip slips
trust to know
He doesn’t let you go.

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Trust in the Lord forever,
~ Isaiah 26: 3-4

Reach to Trust
the Lord is Good
Taste and See,
savor and soak
if you want He will help grow
your unbelief into belief
to grow it like a mustard seed
into a tree with roots that hold
deep and long
strong and true
that don’t and won’t let go.

“May the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace as you
trust in him,
so that you may overflow
with hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
~ Romans 15:13

Dare to reach
taste to see
trust to hope
He will take you where
you need to be.

“For in this hope we were saved.
But hope that is seen is no hope at all.
Who hopes for what they already have?  
But if we hope for what we do not yet have,
we wait for it patiently.”
~ Romans 8: 24-25

On its back, needing to get all its feet on the ground, this Hermit Crab took a risk. He didn’t know what existed outside his shell – his place of comfort and security. He knew he needed help, that He couldn’t leverage himself to uprightness. Fear could have kept him inside. Fear could have stopped him from changing his circumstances. Little by little, he stretched out of his comfort zone. Little by little, he trusted that he would find what he needed. . . and he did. He stretched to find someone’s throw-away scrap- and there the little Hermit Crab found his salvation. He righted himself to continue the everyday ordinary that had been literally turned upside down.

This Hermit Crab montage could be about introverts extroverty – but it struck me, it was about courage not letting fear rule, not stopping the soul development process of getting where God has designed us to go because trust requires faith which can both be hard if we aren’t used to it, really believe it enough to go out on a limb for it. It takes courage to believe, to move out of our comfort zone to go where God calls us to go – like a Hermit Crab courageous enough to go out of his shell.

“Courage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other.” ~Samuel Johnson

Without courage to believe, how can you trust to hope?

“If he see us seeking him, he will be found of us; if he cause us to hope in his word, he will establish his word to us. . . A believing obedient trust in God and his name is the surest way both to preferment and to establishment, to rise and to stand upright, and this will stand us in stead when creature-confidences fail those that depend upon them.” ~ Matthew Henry Commentary, Psalm 20:6

“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” ~ Psalm 34:8

Dare to trust to hope! The Lord is good! Always!

Remember Me Monday: #73 & Link-up

“I’ll make a list of God’s gracious dealings,
    all the things God has done that need praising,
All the generous bounties of God,
    his great goodness to the family of Israel—
Compassion lavished,
.    love extravagant.”
~ Isaiah 63:7, The Message

In the Old Testament, God repeatedly, quietly and loudly, tells his children, “You have forgotten me!”  (Jeremiah 3:32, Ezekiel 22:12, to name a few). It’s a heart cry from a father to a child who has forgotten all the love, all the saving, helping, little and big blessings – and it leaves me stunned when I realize our Father, the creator of the universe, who knows things I cannot begin to fathom, who authors storylines that leave me amazed, delights in all of us so much, He cries out, “Remember Me.”

While every day is a Remember God Day, I am inviting you to join me on Monday mornings to come by and remember what God has done for you, for your family. Maybe God sent a cardinal darting out in front of you, as if to tell you, “I’m here,” or broke a child’s fever after you laid it all down at His feet in a 2 a.m. bedside vigil. Maybe He stood with you in the wait of a prayer sent out, or brought someone you loved to Christ. Maybe He healed your broken heart, gave your courage, or you gave Him your dreams as a love offering only to have Him give them back in an unimaginable way. Maybe God helped you survive to bedtime after a crazy Monday, or forgive yourself for missing it with your kiddos –– Whatever it is, let’s Remember Him. . . in a “Remember Me Monday” love letter.

“My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
Of your salvation all the day long,
Though I know not its measure.
I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord”
~ Psalm 71:15-16.

Let us delight in Him by telling the  stories of what He’s done!  If you wrote a blog post remembering what He’s done for you, join the linky. If you didn’t but still want to praise Him for what He’s done – write it in the comment section. Then visit a comment before or after yours! One of the beautiful things about the blogging community is the relationships it builds!

Rules?  Write long or short, a list or a story, include photos or not. Just Remember Him and what He has done, and let the gratitude of your heart guide you. Let’s make Monday so Rejoice, that the goodness of God spills into the rest of the week!

If are having trouble linking, the linky service recommends to do the following: use [Photo] FROM FILE ” if it will not generate automatically.

Places I’m Linking at This Week:
 Inspire Me Monday,   Instaencouragements, 
Legacy Link-Up, Recharge Wednesday
 Faith on Fire, Tell His Story, Grace&Truth
Let’s Have Coffee Wednesday Celebrate Your Story
Scripture&Snapshot, Sunday Scripture Blessings