Hope Deferred...
I HAD to post part of today's Elijahlist.com word... It made me cry...
"A Door of Hope
Recently I was reminded of a dream that I had a few years ago. In this dream, I was walking down a narrow corridor that was filled with people "going nowhere." At the end of this corridor, there was a door, but no one was going through it. As a matter of fact, the people in this narrow place were sitting down, some curled up in a fetal position. There wasn't any movement forward, and no one was trying to get through the door at the end of the hall.
I asked the Lord, "Where am I?" And He answered me saying, "In the hallway of hope deferred." Then I asked Him, "What is the door at the end of the hallway?" He responded by saying, "A door of hope."
In this dream I just wanted to get through that door and out of this corridor. But the closer I got to the door, the more crowded it was, and the more depressed the atmosphere became. I could feel myself being pulled down by the very hopelessness in the room which made it very hard to continue forward. The Lord kept calling me forward though. By the time I got to the doorway, I was crawling and feeling such deep pain and despair. It almost seemed comforting to just give up and curl into a ball and let the hopelessness take me over. The closer I got to the door of hope, the harder it was to continue.
Finally I reached the door. I reached for a door knob to open the door but there wasn't one on the door. I cried out to the Lord, "How do I get through the door?" Then He answered me and said, "You must go through this deep pain and fear and push through to joy." As I began to push through the blinding hopelessness, the pain and fear increased, but I didn't stop. I kept pushing through the pain and fear. Then suddenly I remembered His joy again and passed through the door. When I passed through, I entered into a place that was not like anywhere I've ever been. It was a Heavenly place with many colors, no walls, no floor, no ceiling and yet I was held in absolute security. Absolute joy was in this place.
I interacted with people in this new place, and the only way that I can describe what I was experiencing is by saying that I entered into the "Desire of the Nations." It was a place of desire fulfilled, and yet every desire was fulfilled completely in Christ. It was like we were in Him, and waves of desire poured over each of us, and just as desire came, so did the fulfillment. The people in this place were absolutely unified in oneness, because all of our selfish desires had been washed away, and our true desire was being fulfilled again and again...together.
As I remembered this dream, the verses in Hosea 2:14-16 came to me;
"But I will court her again and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her tenderly there. There I will give back her vineyards to her and transform her Valley of Troubles into a Door of Hope. She will respond to Me there, singing with joy as in days long ago in her youth after I had freed her from captivity in Egypt. In that coming day," says the Lord, "she will call Me 'My Husband' instead of 'My Master.'"
I believe that there is a door of hope standing in front of many of you. The process of getting to that door has been very long, difficult, and painful. It seems as though the closer you get to breaking through, the harder it is to want to continue to move forward. Be encouraged! Once the Lord told me that at every one of life's thresholds, there is great warfare, but just as a bridegroom does with his bride, this is the time to let Him carry you over. Don't try to cross over in your own strength, but push beyond the pain and fear, and let Jesus carry you through the doorway. Remember from the Scripture above, "...she will call Me 'My Husband' instead of 'My Master'". He is your Bridegroom, and He is pleased to carry you over this threshold.
You will make it! Push past the place of allowing pain and fear to be your master. You have a Husband who cares for you. Know this: what the Lord says He does! We are His witnesses and He alone is God. No one can oppose what He does! (Isaiah 43:10-13). He loves you and loves to give you your heart's desire.
Rejoice!
Kathi Pelton"
Wow... I sooo needed that word. "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." I feel like I have been living under this verse since Kari's death.
It's so good to know that the harder it gets, the closer I am to the door!