The Reality that IS!

Lord, throughout my life, I have experienced a lot of suffering. This last year, which has been full of so many heavy things for me, has left me reeling and sapped of what little strength I had left. Life has come at me fast, knocked me down, and left me gasping for hope. Even though I know You, Lord, it has left me feeling so little of that constant peace, joy, excitement and awe that comes from knowing You.

You have been showing me a concept about hope. This concept has become more clear than it has ever been, yet is hardest for me to remember and hardest for me to grasp.

In this concept, You have been teaching me to look at who You are, Your character and attributes. So, keep teaching and reminding me who You are. Continually remind me that the Bible says that You are love. I know I will never fully know the depths, the heights, the reaches of Your love. I will spend the rest of ALL eternity trying to comprehend what Your love looks like and how awesome it is. Remind me of Your wisdom and knowledge. No matter how much knowledge I gain, or how much I grow in wisdom, I will eternally know less than nothing, compared to the vast expanse of all... You... know. Remind me about Your goodness, that You are utterly and completely flawless. You are good in the most whole sense, pure to perfection. A million years from now in eternity, and endlessly beyond that, I will always be trying, yet forever unable, to fully wrap my mind around HOW MUCH You have done and will do in all Your goodness. All Your good works will continue to be carried out in Your amazing love, and Your power that for all time I will only barely be able to grasp. Since the list goes on and on, continue to reveal to me who You are.

So, since I will always be getting to know You more, and will never be able to have a full grasp of who You are, You are for me a JOY, that will eternally grow. You are my LIFE, forever deepening. You are my EXCITEMENT, that will continually swell forever. You are my HOPE, a HOPE that is already here, and will expand forever.

You are the complete, fullest amount of this HOPE, this JOY, now. You don't grow. My understanding of You does. So, when I don't feel much of that HOPE, JOY and WONDER, the greatest amount of it that could ever exist, still exists. In the times that I don't feel it much, it's just that I'm human, I have trouble grasping You.

So, help me to grasp You! May the great HOPE that You are, change my heart, my mind, my relationship with You and how I live.

By Your hand, may I dive in, to the WONDERS, the AWE, the THRILL of ALL... YOU... ARE! May I spend the rest of eternity, just trying to fathom, the reality that IS!