{"id":13338,"date":"2025-10-08T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/?p=13338"},"modified":"2025-09-24T10:36:01","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T15:36:01","slug":"hope-deferred","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2025\/10\/08\/hope-deferred\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope Deferred"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two-minute read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When hopes and dreams come true, it fills the heart with unspeakable joy, but hope deferred brings heartache. Living in a dark world where evil lurks, hoping for a better world, motivates me to share Christ\u2019s love with others and help them to discover the joy of the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nehemiah 8:10<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a sinner, receiving Christ\u2019s forgiveness put joy in my heart. Knowing that God still loves me, despite my many failings, gives me life like nothing else. And when someone rejects the Lord and the free gift He offers, it brings sadness to my heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each day, I get to try again to do better than the day before. Lying my sins at the foot of the Cross, the Lord renews my soul and gives me strength to make different decisions and do better. So many things can derail my best intentions, but Jesus nudges me back onto the straight and narrow and says, \u201cKeep going. You got this. You can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so can you. No matter where life finds you today, no matter what sins lie in your past, Jesus loves you and He died for you. God knit you together in your mother\u2019s womb, already knowing the purpose He had for you that no one else can fulfill. Let the love of the Savior fill your heart as you receive His gift of grace and mercy, then gain strength knowing nothing can separate you from Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s greatest commandment tells us to love Him and others. The Lord tasks us with sharing the good news of the gospel to all who will listen. Whether they accept Christ or not, God calls us to love them. When we spend our lives doing those things, we will discover the joy of the Lord, and hearts filled with love we can\u2019t help but share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journal Question:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

How has receiving Christ into your heart changed you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In what ways can you share the good news of the gospel today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make a list of people who don\u2019t know Jesus and begin praying that they will discover the joy of the Lord by placing their trust in Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayer:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Lord, thank You for giving us God-sized dreams that only You can make come true. Please help us love You and people better today than ever before. Let us introduce them to the Savior, giving them hearts to receive His gift of salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IJNIP. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two-minute read. When hopes and dreams come true, it fills the heart with unspeakable joy, but hope deferred brings heartache. Living in a dark world where evil lurks, hoping for a better world, motivates me to share Christ\u2019s love with others and help them to discover the joy of the Lord. \u201cDon\u2019t be dejected and… Continue reading Hope Deferred<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13338"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13342,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13338\/revisions\/13342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}