"... But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." Rom. 8:24-26

I read these verses early this morning, and, as usual, how active and living and applicable God's Word is. I want to be a hopeful person, but I also want to "see" that hope! I don't want to wait on it or risk the possibility that my "hope" is ill-founded in any way. So typical of me--I basically want the easy, comfortable, risk-free, pain-free way. But God tells us clearly that is not His kind of hope! He is such an adventurer, such a risk taker--sometimes it almost takes your breath away! Just look at the 12 unlikely men He chose as His disciples: uneducated fishermen, hated, corrupt tax collectors, unpredictable half crazy political zealots...And these are the men He entrusts after His death with telling the world about the Savior. What on earth! What if they gave up or did a lousy job of it or just plain failed? What was the back up plan?

There was no other plan. God banked it all on these often fallible, weak, inconsistent, quarrelsome, clueless men. Sound familiar? Add emotional and tired in there and I'd fit right in...and so would my family! But by the power of the Holy Spirit, boy, did those disciples come through.

And so can we. Right now I may not feel filled with hope. I might be tired and overwhelmed. I might feel discouraged and defeated. Or I might feel irritated and ungrateful. But what I feel has no bearing on what is true: that the Spirit is interceding for me, God's undeserving but dearly loved child. That I can have hope because my hope is not based on how I feel but on who God is and what He has done and can do. That God just seems to enjoy using the unlikely and unlovely and unqualified to bring glory to His name, because He is the One with the infinite power and grace and joy and peace. Just ask the disciples.

So Lord, do it again. And to You be all the glory.