Anchored

Hebrews 6:19 "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." The dictionary defines "hope" as confident expectation. Occasionally we find ourselves in seemingling hopeless situations. We wish for a positive outcome but with very little confidence. We desire a happy ending but there is little or no evidence to encourage us. Should our few short years on earth be the sum total of our existence, we would indeed be a very hopeless lot. But, we know there is so much more than this. We know there is home eternal for the faithful. Regardless of what happens during this life, there is more. And so we confidently, with great expectation, turn our faces toward eternity---full of hope.
My life, like yours, is not always easy. Right now, my youngest son, his wife and his children are undergoing Satan's attacks. Satan has unleashed his weapons on their marriage and their faith. He seems very determined to kill their faith in each other, to destroy their faith in God and to steal all hope from them. Our entire family hurts and as we battle the Deceiver, we ask for prayers. We struggle to hold on and pray for God's strength.
A few years ago, there was a major hurricane on the East Coast. This disaster, like others, created many heroes. I remember reading about a young reporter, out in the forceful wind and pelting rain. He stands at the banks of an overflowing river, reporting the danger to watching viewers. The story says he saw a young child being swept away in the torrent. He jumped into save her but the waves and wind and the swiftness of the current kept wrenching her out of his hands. After many attempts, the young man successfully pulls the young child to shore. Exhausted, he pulls her up the bank to a huge, deep rooted tree, standing there, seemingly untouched by the storm. The tree was very large and the trunk offered shelter. The wind had wrapped a long peice of rope around this trunk, perhaps the final remnants of a child's swing or someones futile attempt to secure their belongings. The young man tooki the rope and wrapped it around the child, then wrapped himself around her and then with the last of the rope, anchored himself. That is where they found him when the storm abated. He had died from injuries sustained by flying, wind driven debris. But, the child, the child was fine, hungry, wet and scared, but uninjured. Saved because she'd been anchored by a savior.
As my kids face this torrential downpour, as their life is being pummelled by Satan's debris, as they struggle to hold on to their faith, save their marriage, and provide for their children, my prayer is that they stay anchored---that we all do. If we hold fast to our Saviour, He will provide the anchor that will get us safely through this storm. Surely we will end up battered and bruised, scared and hungry, but we will be safe. He will save us. We have this hope (confident expectation) that He will not leave us or forsake us. After all, even storms obey our Saviour. We have a hope that anchors our souls and I am confident we will survive this storm.


Neva