It’s August and it is definitely summer, but the rhythm of my heart over the last few days has been something I wrote last winter right

And over the last few days my mind has been constantly pulled back to the moments I wrote this piece and the hope in every word as I typed it.

He cares deeply why you weep.

He cares deeply why you seek Him.

You are not missed.

You are not forgotten.

He has truly seen you.

Sometimes the threads of our lives feel a little frayed, and the only way to feel wrapped up again is to be enveloped in hope. 

The Apostle Paul talks a lot about hope in his letter to the Romans. He writes to them: "Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." Romans 8:24

Inspired by his words of hope, I wrote a letter to the Apostle Paul and to the Roman church and read them aloud in the Jewish quarter on Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) on a recent trip to Italy. 

I wanted to commemorate my time in Rome like Paul would have - with a letter. 

This episode is the reading of my letters; first to Paul, and then to the Roman church.

Let's cling to what Paul teaches us about hope. To hope in Jesus because He is sure. 

When we focus our eyes on Him and His unending, incomparable love for us, our hope spans acres that have no end.

In Hosea Chapter 2:14-15, God lists His plan of hope:

“And now, here’s what I’m going to do:

I’m going to start all over again.

I’m taking her back out into the wilderness where we had our first date, and I’ll court her.

I’ll give her bouquets of roses.

I’ll turn Heartbreak Valley into Acres of Hope.

She’ll respond like she did as a young girl, those days when she was fresh out of Egypt.” 

Preparation begins in the wilderness. Let Him take you there if it means hope on the other side.

Don’t let hopelessness steal your song. Please keep singing. You wage a war with the enemy he can’t win when you do.

You are not helpless.

You are not hopeless.

You can fight the feeling of helpless hope with the power of God’s word that is forever true.

You will not go down without a fight for your hope.

You are invaluable to the One Who restores and redeems.

You are the one for whom He turns Heartbreak Valley into Acres of Hope.

This is a special edition of the Podcast.

It’s a full teaching on Acres of Hope I recently shared. It’s the condensed versions of Chapters 4 and 5 of my book – Acres of Hope.

My prayer is that your faith is encouraged and after our time together – your heart is filled with the hope we have in Jesus.

This is my prayer for you - that you feel Acres of Hope.

Jerusalem roads sit on top of a historical timeline that is rivaled by none. There are more than 30 centuries of continuous recorded history in Israel’s capital.  This is a city with layers upon layers of past ages that tell the story of ancient heartache and victory.  It is acres and acres of land that have been inhabited, built up, destroyed to rubble, then rebuilt again on the same 49 square miles.

Each time the city was destroyed by a conquering civilization, it provided the people of Israel the opportunity to activate their faith and start again. Each tier is a sign of new hope.

Much like the historical snapshots of Jerusalem have made an indentation on the earth, the hopelessness you experience repeatedly indents your heart. It gets buried deep under layers and years of hurt and despair. After hopelessness has made an impression on your heart, you feel like you cannot escape the remnants it leaves behind. You feel like every loss and heartache are piled mile-high, one on top of another, creating an impenetrable force around your future. You are left with the rubble of grief, anger, disappointment, doubt, emotional pain, trauma, and verbal abuse that eliminate the slightest glimmer of hope for peace in the future.

Joy can stack on top of grief. (Psalm 34:18)

The serenity of Jesus can stack on top of rage and resentment. (Colossians 3:8, 15)

Faith can stack on top of wavering confidence. (Mark 9:24)

Jesus calls you “the light of the world. A city on a hill that cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14). Your ruins do not have to remain a heap of wreckage of destruction; they can be the foundation of your hope. You are that beautiful city. Every acre of hope. And you are called to shine brightly for Him.

You are a beautiful city.

Don’t stop stacking.