The Courage to Hope!

It's finally raining!  This summer has been tough!  Many, many fires.  Fires so fierce we, in the valley, have been brushing ash from our cars and breathing smoked choked air for weeks. It's been tough!  But today is WET!  And they say it will be that way for a while.  I hope it will be enough to beat down the flames and start the healing process.  A week ago I saw many pleas on Facebook to pray for rain and finally, it's coming.  I have hope!

I wonder, is hope a choice?  Or is it a possession?  I'm thinking of that passage in Hebrews 6:19 "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil," Hope, wow, the thing that keeps us clinging to God. It sounds to me like it is something we have in our hands.  It sounds pretty powerful in that hope is the anchor that keeps us held fast in His presence!  Hope, the thing that is left in our hands after everything else is gone.  Hope, the blade of grass that peeks up out of the ground after the fires are over. 

Perhaps hope is a choice.  Perhaps it is a gift that must be received.  I know that with hope there is a sense of future and without it, here are only the ashes left behind.