HOPE for the Holidays - Day 14

My Phillip and me, September 10, 1977

"...The Lord will be the HOPE of His people..." (Joel 3:16 KJV)


Story of HOPE:

        My Phillip asked me three times to marry him before I said yes. (Of course, the first two times I was still a teenager!) I'm very thankful my man gave me another chance to become his bride.

A young man in our church recently shared his second chance story:

        I grew up in Natchitoches, Louisiana, attending church with two godly parents. In high school, I took up football, and a couple of years down the line I chose to play for Auburn University...I was aware that I had a special ability from God to do something huge.
      Then my life took a drastic turn for the worse. I chose to turn away from from the awesome teammates, coaches, and the great chaplain that  God put at Auburn...I consumed myself with darkness, music, movies, TV, drugs, and friends...my deliverance began when I was sentenced to five years in federal prison. [In prison], I witnessed the light and love of God that would change the course of history for me!
       [After prison], I asked my mom and dad if they would open their home to their prodigal son. I came back to Birmingham with no job, clothes, money, car, friends, mentor, church or pastor...I was still on supervised release, meaning I had to wear an ankle monitor. I couldn't go beyond 15 feet of my home except to work and church once a week, and the church had to be within 5 miles...I asked my dad about some of the churches nearby, and he told me about Church of the Highlands...
       The church is truly the HOPE of the world, and my story is a testament to that. Now, my mom, dad, and I are leading a small group, and my wife and I are both pursuing the call of God at Highlands College.
        I praise God for the...gift of second chances at Church of the Highlands!1

O Father God of second, third, and to the stars and back chances, please encourage someone today who in need of another chance. Help them believe that all things are possible through Jesus, who is able to redeem lives from the darkness and transform them in His marvelous light!


1 CHURCH OF THE HIGHLANDS: LEGACY pamphlet, 2013

        

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HOPE for the Holidays - Day 13

My grandkids enjoying the first big snow of this winter

"The rain and snow come down from the heavens 

and stay on the ground to water the earth. 

They cause the grain to grow, producing 

seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry.

It is the same with My WORD. 

I send it out, and it always produces fruit. 

It will accomplish all I want it to, 

and it will prosper everywhere I send it.

You will live in joy and peace. 

The mountains and hills will burst into song, 

and the trees of the field will clap their hands!

Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. 

Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up. 

These events will bring great honor to the Lord's name; 

they will be an everlasting sign of His power and love!" 

(Isa. 55:10-13)

"You are my refuge and my shield; 

Your WORD is my source of HOPE!" (Psalm 119:14)

Story of HOPE:

        In the darkness, I slipped from beneath the covers, picked up my Bible, and headed to the living room couch. Curling up like a kitten, I opened the Bible to visit with Jesus through the pages of His Holy Word.  A few minutes later, here came my Phillip, rushing down the hallway and saying, "Succoth! Jill, what does Succoth mean?"

        "Succoth?" I replied. "I have no idea. I don't even think that's a word."

        He urged, "Well, look it up! I just heard God say it!" 

"Jacob, on the other hand, traveled to Succoth. There he built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place was named Succoth (which means "shelters"). (Gen. 33:17)

         In the three years that followed, the "Succoth Ministry" in Pine Bluff, Arkansas provided transitional housing - "shelters" if you will - for homeless men, women, and children. When Phillip's company transferred our family back to Louisiana, that season of service ended as quickly as it had begun.

O heavenly Father, I pray that my readers will stay attuned to Your great voice and ready to serve others in Jesus' name whenever You call.

"Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning...You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected." (Luke 12:35,40)

          

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HOPE for the Holidays - Day 12

My grandmother, 1950s

"But as for me, I will HOPE continually, and will praise You yet more and more. My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and of Your salvation all day long; for I do not know the sum of them...And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come!" (Psalm 71:14-15,18)


Story of HOPE:

       In 1916, my grandmother, Elsie Thomas, received her first teaching assignment: Shady Grove, a one-room, eight grade schoolhouse nested in the backwoods of the Tennessee mountains. 

"Shady Grove" by artist, Cami Monet Webb
(an illustration from my first storybook, The Schoolhouse)

      In 1955, Grandmother wrote a fourteen page letter to my mother describing her experience as a young teacher  on Whitwell Mountain and encouraged her to turn those adventures  into a short story for publication. Although Mother never attempted the assignment, she passed on to me the handwritten record of that beautiful, true tale of faith, determination, danger, servitude, and love.
        The letter lay in a drawer for years until I heard my pastor encourage our congregation to go after the dreams God has for us. The next morning, I believe the Lord said, "Jill, it's time to write her story." From a HOPE conceived decades before, came The Schoolhouse - a devotional storybook for families birthed through a dreamer's granddaughter.

O Father God-of-dreams-come-true, I pray that you will inspire my readers to go after the dreams that You have planned for them in Jesus' name!

"For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago!" (Eph. 2:10)
       

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HOPE for the Holidays - Day 11

My Phillip and me, 1993

"Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who HOPE in His mercy" (Psalm 33:18)


        

      

My Phillip, Rebecca, Dan, and Ben, 1993

Anybody out there worried today? If so, this story is for YOU!

Story of HOPE:

         On Day 5 in this HOPE for the Holidays series, I mentioned that we once lost a business in Louisiana, which resulted in a move to Arkansas in the early 1990s. There, God graciously gave Phillip new work and our family a new beginning. However, we still owed taxes from the failed business - a debt that I worried, and worried, and worried, and prayed, and prayed, and prayed about.  

                Well, it "just so happened" that one of our new friends in our new hometown "coincidentally" happened to be a tax attorney. He told us about a new tax law: if you pay in full the owed taxes, then all late fees and penalties are waived. THEN, he went on to say, "And I'm going personally loan you, interest free, the money to pay those taxes, and you can repay me as you can."

             All along, God had a solution to the matter that I had worried myself sick over. What a waste of time and brain power!          

              And the rest of story: Phillip received an "unexpected" bonus and was able to repay Lee in full in less than a year! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

O Father, I pray for every reader today who is sick with worry! Please help them exchange their worry with prayer - letting their request be made known unto You with thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6). Lord, please help them HOPE in You as You show Yourself strong on their behalf and work out good solutions for them in Jesus' name!

Jesus said, "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world!" (John 16:33)

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HOPE for the Holidays - Day 10

"Tool Shed" by award-winning artist, Donny Finley
(illustration from Secrets of Shiloh, my latest devotional, storybook for families)

"God chose [Jesus] as your ransom long before the world began, but He has now revealed Him to you in these last days. Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and HOPE in God because He raised Christ from the dead and gave Him great glory!" (1 Peter 1:20-21)


Story of HOPE:

           For years, my sweet husband has prayed that the Lord will "increase our borders" for God's glory. When I began this website in October of 2012, I HOPED it would be a tool of encouragement in the hands of God. Over and over, I've asked Jesus to enlarge, stretch out, lengthen, and drive deeper into the hearts of you, my readers, asking Him to save you, deliver you from bondages, redeem your lives back to His design, and to empower you to be His witnesses. Since that first post a little over one year ago, this blog has been viewed over 14,000 times in 69 countries - an answered prayer of sending the love of Jesus way beyond the state lines of Alabama.

O Father, I pray that you will place powerful tools in the hands of my readers and expand their borders for Your good purposes and glory! May these dear people place their HOPE in You through faith in Jesus Christ!

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HOPE for the Holidays - Day 9

My Ben and his bride, Gabbi
Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 2008

"Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always HOPEFUL, and endures through every circumstance." (1 Cor. 13:7)




Story of HOPE:

      In high school, my Ben was an excellent soccer player and kicker for our football team. After his sophomore year of college, he told his dad, "I can still kick a ball. I think I'll try out for a college football team." And by George, that young whipper-snapper did it! Ben landed an athletic scholarship at Tusculum College in the picturesque mountains of Tennessee.
       Tusculum required every first semester athlete to attend study hall where students on scholastic scholarship served as tutors. When Ben walked in that classroom, he spotted Gabriella, a beautiful Latin American tutor from Honduras, and said, "I want THAT tutor!" And by George, that young whipper-snapper got her! Four years later, Gabriella became Mrs. Benjamin Phillip Glassco.

O Abba Father, I pray that my readers will HOPE and delight in You, and You will give them the desires of their hearts!

"Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart's desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you!" (Psalm 37:4)

     

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HOPE for the Holiday - Day 8

Grandkids on the day of Auburn's National Football Championship, 2010

"HOPE deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life." (Prov. 13:12)

Story of HOPE:

       Yes, I admit that we Americans are football fanatics. And in my home state of Alabama, the rivalry between the University of Alabama and Auburn University, i.e. the Iron Bowl, is one of the biggest tug-of-war competitions in the nation.
       Last Saturday, in the very last moment of this year's tie game, Alabama attempted a field goal for the win. But instead of sailing through the uprights, that pigskin fell into the arms of Auburn's Chris Davis who ran 109 yards for a touchdown. Game over. Auburn had won. In one, quick second, the blink of an eye, the destiny of two teams changed.
       
       Atop Mt. Calvary over two thousand years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ hung on a cross between two thieves. In the final moment of one thief's life on earth, he cried, "Jesus! Remember me when You come into Your kingdom!" Jesus promised, "Truly I say to you, today, you shall be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:41-42)! In one, quick second, the blink of an eye, the destiny of that hell-bent thief changed to heaven forever!

O Father, I pray for any of my readers who stand today destined by their own sins to hell's Lake of Fire! I pray they will cry out to Jesus, and You will change their eternal destiny to heaven in Jesus' name! Amen and amen!

"But if we HOPE for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." (Rom. 8:25)

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HOPE for the Holidays - Day 7

The Igous and the Watsons, Ghost Town in the Sky tram, 1964

"So God has given both His promise and His oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the HOPE that lies before us. This HOPE is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary." (Heb. 6:18-19)


Story of HOPE:

     When Arlene Carden Igou died last January, I blogged about a 1964 family vacation in the Great Smoky Mountains with our dear friends, the Igous. In that post, I stated that our parents, R.A., Arlene, Verna, and Winfred were of, what Tom Brokaw dubbed as, the greatest generation: children of the Great Depression, Warriors of World War II, and gentle, quiet housewives yet tough as nails. At that time, three of those four had been escorted safely into God's heavenly kingdom, while one lone soldier, R.A., continued to stand his watch in faithful resolve.
     Last Tuesday, November 26th, the Lord Jesus ushered R.A. Igou home to heaven - just in time for the holidays. By God grace, Dr. Igou didn't have to spend even one Thanksgiving or Christmas apart from his bride afterall! Isn't God good!

O Father, I pray that every single one of my readers grasps Your HOPE of heaven through faith in Jesus Christ. If they don't, please rescue their souls in Jesus' name - just in time for the holidays!

Therefore, we do not "grieve like people who have no HOPE. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring with Him the believers who have died...for the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God!...Then we will be with the Lord forever! So encourage one another with these words." (1 Thess. 4:13-18)

I want to stroll over heaven with you some glad day,
When all our troubles and heartaches have truly vanished away.
There we'll enjoy all the beauty where all things are new.
I want to stroll over heaven with you!1

1 -  STROLL OVER HEAVEN WITH YOU. Carl L. Trivette, 1952.

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HOPE for the Holidays - Thanksgiving Day

My Rebecca's Family in Native America costume, 2013
(I'm 1/64th Cherokee Native American)

"How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose HOPE is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever!" (Psalm 46:5-6)

Story of Hope: 

        In 1621, the colonists in America weathered the terrible first winter in New England where half of the group would die from exposure, malnutrition, and disease. At the lowest ebb, only 7 people were healthy enough to tend the sick. But despite tragedy and hardship, those remaining persevered.
       On March 16th, an Algonquin Sagamore Native American named Samoset, speaking English he'd learned from Anglo fishers and traders, approached the company as they worked to build houses. Over subsequent days, other Native people visited the colonists including, Massasoit, their great leader, and Squanto, the sole survivor of the Patuxet people. The meetings resulted in a treaty of friendship.
       Throughout the hot, solstice days that followed, the Colony built their settlement and tended crops. At summer's end, Gov. John Carver called for a time of celebration for blessing the harvest and offering thanksgiving to God. The feast reportedly lasted three days and was attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims.
       In 1623, a severe drought drove the colonists to their knees in fasting and petitions to Almighty God. Rain fell during their prayers, thus another thanksgiving observance took place upon Gov. William Bradford proclamation:

      "Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, squashes, and garden vegetables, and made the forest to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from the pestilence and granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own counscience. Now I, your magistrate do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill between the hours of nine and twelve in the daytime on Thursday, November ye 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Plymouth Rock, there to listen to ye Pastor and render Thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings."

O Father, on this Thursday, November 28, 2013, 390 years after Gov. Bradford's proclamation, may all the nations, tribes, people, and tongues of this whole World render thanksgiving to You, the Almighty God, for Your gracious blessings and unmerited mercies! And for my readers, please send rain into the dry places of their souls and make their lives watered gardens in Jesus' name! Amen and amen!

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness, 
Come before His Presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who made us, and not we ourselves.
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
And His courts with praise!
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name!
For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations!
(Psalm 100)

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HOPE for the Holidays - Day 5

My precious family,  Bogalusa, Louisiana, 1986
(Yes, those are braces on my teeth!)

"Love each other with genuine affection...rejoice in confident HOPE. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God's people are in need, be ready to help them..." 
(Romans 12:10-13)






Story of HOPE:

       In 1986, unbeknownst to our church family, my sweet husband's business was in deep, financial trouble. As we struggled to make ends meet between stacks of bills and a very meager income, an older lady (probably around the same age I am now!), on a fixed income herself, approached me after a Sunday worship service and handed me an envelope. She simply said, "My name is Janice King, and the Holy Spirit told me to give this to you." Inside that envelope was $700 - almost to the penny the amount we owed another family in our church.
      We lost that company in Louisiana, but over the course of time, God restored our losses and graciously brought us to a place of ample provision. When I tried to locate and repay Mrs. King, I learned that she had moved on to heaven. God in His goodness, however, has provided many opportunities to pay forward the kindness shown to us in our time of need.

O Father, I pray today for my readers who are in desperate need. Please give them confident HOPE in You, patience in their troubles, and Your all-sufficient provision in Jesus' name!

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a HOPE! In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for Me wholeheartedly, you will find Me." (Jer. 29:11-13)

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HOPE for the Holidays - Day 4

A beautiful child from the Bessemer Bible study

"Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their HOPE and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves are green, and they never stop producing fruit!" (Jer. 17:7-8)



Story of HOPE:

        When the flow of women and children coming to the Bessemer Bible study trickled down to almost no one at all, I asked, "Lord, are You closing this door?" 
         At the point where I was ready to quit, Jesus showed Himself strong and opened the floodgates of opportunity! This fall, we averaged 60 men, women, and children at the Bible studies, 12 asked God for His free gift of forgiveness of their sins and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, and 15 asked God to set them free from addictions and bondages. One gentleman later testified that, after prayer to our all-powerful God, his whole life had changed for the better - his attitude, his marriage, everything!

O Father, I pray for my readers today who are at the end of their rope of HOPE and ready to quit. Please show Yourself strong on their behalf! Please give them HOPE, encouragement, guidance, and an open floodgate of opportunity in Jesus' name!

"but those who HOPE in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wing like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Isa. 40:31)

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HOPE for the Holidays: Day 3

My mother, Verna Watson, around 1943

"Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? HOPE in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His presence!" 
(Psalm 42:5)










Story of HOPE:

(I've told this story before, but as I prayed for you this morning, I sensed the Lord saying, "Jill, someone needs to hear this story again." Is it you?)

         Several years ago, my mother lay in a hospital bed very sick with cancer that had metastasized to her bones. One night, I dreamed the Lord said, "Jill, I'll open a window of time for your mother to feel good for a while, and then the end will come quickly." I feared that dream was only wishful thinking when the doctors told us it was time to call in hospice. My mother, on the other hand, assured me, "Jill, it's not time to call hospice. I'm going to get better, go home, and mow my yard on my Dixon lawnmower!" (Mother LOVED her lawnmower and working in her beautiful yard.)
        Well...two years later, here we are celebrating Mother's 80th birthday:

L-R - Mama, me, my Ben, niece Virginia, my brother Mark, and niece Alyson

Mother would continue to work in her yard until the Lord Jesus took her home to His heavenly gardens - five and a half years after the doctors told us to call hospice.

My mother and her dog, Tuck, at her lovely mountain home

O Father God, please help my readers HOPE in You; because regardless of dreadful circumstances, there is always HOPE in the name of Jesus!

"...those who HOPE in Me will not be disappointed!" (Isa. 49:23b)

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HOPE for the Holidays - Day 2

Geneva and Clara
(our farm kitties)

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:3-5)
        
          Because he took pity on two skinny, stray kitties living in the woods of our farm, my Phillip bought a bag of cat food a few of months ago. Clara, who used to hide in the underbrush until we were a safe distance away, now runs to our feet when we get to the farm. (She hasn't let us pet her yet, but I'm confident that day will come.) Geneva, on the other hand, is our "Miss-social-butterfly" and constantly searches for a lap to sit in.

          Because of His great mercy, Father God sent His Son Jesus to seek and save spiritually, destitute people from every tongue, tribe, and nation (Luke 19:10)! Through faith in the resurrected Christ, God offers new life into a living, eternal HOPE that no hardship, trial, or tribulation can ever take away!!!!

Story of HOPE:
          As an eleven year old girl, I was spiritually destitute even though I was in Sunday School and church most Sundays. I believed that Jesus was the Son of God, but I had never trusted in His death, burial, and resurrection as payment for my own many sins.
         After a Billy Graham film at the Dekalb Theatre in Fort Payne, Alabama, a young pastor invited the audience to accept God's free gift of forgiveness of sins and eternal life through faith in Jesus. Jesus saved me that day. He rescued me from having to pay for my own sins in the eternal fiery furnace of hell. So no matter what happens on this earth, I have a living HOPE in heaven, and He offers that same living HOPE to you today!

Jesus said, "...I go to prepare a place for you...I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also...I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." (John 14:2-6)

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HOPE for the Holidays!

The Lego Family 
(a grandson creation) 

"Now may the God of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13)

       In the U.S. next week, many, many families will be busy preparing traditional Thanksgiving Day turkeys, dressing, sweet potato casseroles, and pumpkin pies. In this time set aside for hearts to overflow with gratitude to God, sadly, many people will feel overwhelmed with loneliness, disappointment, and hopelessness. 

      As I prayed for you this morning, I believe the Lord revealed that, this holiday season, He's declaring war on hopelessness! I believe His instructions for me are to post words of HOPE everyday between now and the new year. 

Today's story of HOPE:

      Two years ago, my dear friends in Tennessee befriended a homeless man. Today, he has a job, a roof over his head, a church family, and will join my friends for Thanksgiving dinner!

      O Christian, no matter how dire your situation seems or what your earthly family looks like, you belong to the family of God, and therefore, you do have HOPE in Jesus' name!

      (Do you have a story of HOPE? Please share it with us through the comment feature!)

       

       

      

       

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