Episode 240 : Hope in the waiting - the advent
Episode 240 : Hope in the waiting - the advent
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Hope in the waiting - the advent - episode 240
Hope in the waiting - the advent - episode 240
“To hope in God means to wait with patient expectation, trusting that he will fulfill his promises.” This week I explore hope a little more. Hope in the waiting as we prepare for the coming of Christmas or the coming of our Savior. As we prepare for Christmas, the advent can help us get spiritually focused which then can help us find just the right things and events that can make our Christmas waiting meaningful. I talk about the advent, its purpose and then share a few readings, things to consider about the reading and a reflection question to ponder on the topic of hope from the Old and New Testament.
Show Notes: Hi Friends! I hope you enjoyed listening to this episode. Below are all the references.
Key Topics
Key Topics
Why I chose to focus on hope in the waiting during Advent
How Advent invites spiritual preparation rather than perfection
Balancing holiday busyness with meaningful reflection
Trusting that God provides opportunities for connection and service
Learning to relax expectations while remaining prayerful
Hope as patient, forward-leaning trust in God’s promises
The themes of Advent: hope, peace, joy, and love
The difference between outcome-based hope and living hope
Key Insight From the Episode
Key Insight From the Episode
Hope in God means waiting with patient expectation, trusting that He will fulfill His promises — even when the outcome isn’t yet visible.
What I Learned About Advent
What I Learned About Advent
Advent is more than a countdown to Christmas
It invites hopeful waiting and deep reflection
It points both to Christ’s birth and His Second Coming
Each week centers on a theme:
Week 1: Hope
Week 2: Peace
Week 3: Joy
Week 4: Love
Advent helps prepare the heart to notice God’s work in unexpected ways
Scriptures & Reflections I Shared
Scriptures & Reflections I Shared
Isaiah 8:5–17 — Choosing trust and hope in God amid fear
Psalm 130 — Hoping for redemption while waiting through darkness
1 Peter 1:3–9 — A living hope grounded in Christ’s resurrection
Romans 8:18–25 — Waiting patiently for redemption and renewal
Reflection Questions
Reflection Questions
What does it look like to trust God instead of false sources of security?
How does understanding God’s compassion and faithfulness strengthen hope during suffering?
What’s the difference between hoping for an outcome and living with a living hope rooted in Christ?
Resources Mentioned
Resources Mentioned
The Bible Project — Guide to Advent
Advent reflection readings and printable calendars
Transcript
Transcript
Audio file
Audio file
Ep. 240 Hope in the waiting.mp3
I am Camille Johnson, and this is Finding the Floor.
Stories and reflections of midlife motherhood, family, and finding meaning in it all.
Join me as I share a little piece of my life and figure out what I want to be when I grow up.
Hey friends, welcome to Finding the Floor.
This is episode 240 and today we are going to talk about hope in the waiting.
And this one was one that I was intrigued about.
So today I'm going to talk about this idea of hope as we wait for the coming of Christ.
So for instance, last Sunday started the first week and that usually represents hope.
And I'll get more into that in just a few minutes.
Okay, how was everybody's Thanksgiving?
us there, then they, them to fly here.
Plus a few of my older kids didn't have as much time off for work.
So I hope you guys had a wonderful Thanksgiving and
And then it seems like I come back and I'm just like running and trying to catch up a little bit.
And this week my daughter has her musical.
And so I have to confess that again, I don't have my Christmas up yet.
But it's going to get out this weekend, so that will be good.
But I have been thinking a lot about it.
And I just liked a lot of the things I learned about the Advent as I was doing a little research.
And you want to have experiences where there may be serving or having spiritual experiences.
I just wasn't doing a lot of things that like I think I wanted to have happen.
But what I noticed is that all of these last minute opportunities to serve came up.
And I remember thinking, you know, as long as we're prayerful and
So I just think it's also really good to be open
and to be prayerful, but also maybe relax a little bit, right?
There's hope in that waiting period.
concerts we want to attend or, just different things that we kind of love having.
Like it's not Christmas unless these couple things happen.
So I just think it's really easy to kind of get stressed about making it all happen.
Okay, I found this great website on thebibleproject.com, and it was just explaining the Advent.
And I'm going to take a ton of stuff
not a ton, but I'm going to take a lot of things from that website.
And the Advent is a little bit of that.
So I'm going to read this paragraph from that website.
Again, it's from thebibleproject.com, and this is a guide to the Advent.
But all Advent practices share a heightened anticipation for God's arrival.
And I honestly haven't been as good doing it.
So there's many ways to do this.
It was interesting in this website, it said each week there's a theme of a reflection.
And week one is hope, week 2 is peace, week 3 is joy, and week 4 is love.
So there's this other thing that I really liked from this article on the website about the Advent.
To hope in God means to wait with patient expectation, trusting that He will fulfill His promises.
And I just really like the idea of hope in the waiting is hoping in God's promises.
other promises that God has fulfilled in our lives.
But I just think this was so good and really good to think about.
Okay, so the first reflection they suggest on this website is facing darkness with firm hope.
And the reference is Isaiah chapter 8, verses 5 through 17.
Okay, so I'm going to read this, which is kind of long, but
and all his glory, and he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks.
Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.
Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught.
Speak the word, and it shall not stand, for God is with us.
Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and let him be your fear, let him be your dread.
And many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken and be snared and be taken.
Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
And I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
Okay, sometimes in Isaiah, you're kind of like, what actually just happened that I read?
And so that's why I love this kind of explanation.
When Judah's king Ahaz faces the growing threat of attack from Israel's northern kingdom,
They will indeed get what they want, Isaiah declares, the flooding river of Assyria.
will wipe away their enemies, but it will also sweep into Judah.
Assyria won't completely destroy their land.
The waters will come only as far as the neck.
But the people will face the implement brutality of Assyria's warriors.
Isaiah knows what's coming, yet he chooses to trust God.
While the king is terrified, Isaiah listens to God's voice, urging him not to fear what others fear.
and that voice gives him the courage to stare down the darkness with hope.
Isaiah says God is faithful and truly powerful.
He can be trusted to ultimately save his people.
And here in this scripture, Isaiah is telling us to trust in God.
So this is a reflection question.
It says, what would it look like to patiently resist the assumption
These are really good reflective things.
Can you imagine just like thinking about that?
So there is the first reflection.
Okay, then the second one is really good as well.
This one is hoping for redemption.
And I'm going to read Psalm 130.
Psalm 130 declares that God shows loyal love.
So even in the depth of our suffering, we can hope in God to redeem what has been harmed.
Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord.
Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning.
I say more than they that watch for the morning.
Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy.
and with him is plenteous redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
Oh, that's another really good one.
Okay, and again, I'm going to read the consider.
This is again from this website mentioned earlier from thebibleproject.com.
Sometimes people suffer from the bad choices of others.
It says, look at verses 4 through 8.
The watchmen eagerly anticipate the dawn, certain that night's darkness cannot last forever.
And the psalmist's trust in God surpasses even the certainty that the sun will rise.
The watchmen base their confident expectation on history.
The psalmists similarly trust in God based on history.
We all need someone who can truly embody God's wisdom and lead us back to life.
Advent hope acknowledges human failure and need for God without shaming.
So here's another reflection question you can think about.
Maintaining loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.
This is from Exodus 34, 6 through 7.
How might this understanding of God strengthen hope when you're suffering or feeling despair?
help you believe that God will also keep his promises.
Okay, so the last little part is called Holding Fast to Living Hope When Suffering.
And this is a section from the New Testament, 1 Peter 3 through 9 and Romans 8, 18 through 25.
Okay, so I'm going to start 1 Peter verses 3 through 9.
Okay, and then now Romans chapter 8, verses 18 through 25.
For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope.
For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we patience wait for it.
I just think that's really cool.
Okay, so to consider, all right, again, this is from the website that I am reading.
Instead, their hope finds clarity and strength.
Suffering often confuses us and makes us hope for more control.
Hope like that can be energizing, but it's shaky when the thing we're hoping for doesn't happen.
That hope will soon evaporate.
All creation is groaning, Paul says, so it's not surprising that we each suffer or groan inwardly.
A living hope makes sense only in light of Jesus' resurrection.
Seeing Jesus alive sparked a lasting, powerful, living hope.
So along with Peter, Paul, and all of Jesus' followers, we wait with patience.
We yearn for everything that's broken to be made right.
Oh, that last few sentences, that's so good.
And then that last sentence, so good.
Okay, then this is the last reflection question.
And the living hope Peter talks about in 1 Peter 1, 3 through 9.
How do we have that living hope?
Okay, guys, I know I read a lot from this website.
And again, it's thebibleproject.com.
It was like bibleproject.com slash guides slash advent.
And you can print that out if that's something you're interested in.
I just found it really interesting to think about the themes of the next few weeks.
on this Sunday for the next week and joy and love.
Okay, you guys have an awesome week.
I will have another podcast for you next week.
I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
Special thanks to Seth Johnson for creating and performing the theme music.
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