John 16:33
You Will Find Troubles in this World
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus' Yoke is Easy and His Burden is Light
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Hebrews 6:16-20
Hope is the Anchor to the Soul
16 Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
Looking for comfort, I found suffering...Day in and day out I struggle to be like Jesus and to follow His Ways...It seems I agree with Him, that in this world you will have troubles...It seems I cannot get Him to answer my prayers to make this world to be an easy place or at least an easier place to live for me...One where the daily yoke is easy and everything in life is light as a feather...Different anxieties seem to come out of nowhere and land in my thought stream...And many times they seem to stay there until they are ready to leave...The daily journey of the soul seems like a great mystery and can be a cold-suffering one...Sometimes the spirit feels separate and isolated...Often I ask where is the Holy Spirit?...As I have advanced in years I thought one would grow closer to the indwelt Holy Spirit...I thought I would be further along right now in the Spiritual...This doesn't seem to have happened yet, at least for me...It seems I am a ragamuffin, as one author has labeled it...But strangely enough there is this Hope in His Grace...
Brennan Manning, the author of All is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir, writes, “A Word Before All Is Grace was written in a certain frame of mind—that of a ragamuffin...Therefore, This book is by the one who thought he’d be farther along by now, but he’s not...It is by the inmate who promised the parole board he’d be good, but he wasn’t...It is by the dim-eyed who showed the path to others but kept losing his way...It is by the wet-brained who believed if a little wine is good for the stomach, then a lot is great...It is by the liar, tramp, and thief; otherwise known as the priest, speaker, and author...It is by the disciple whose cheese slid off his cracker so many times he said “to hell with cheese ’n’ crackers.”...It is by the young at heart but old of bone who is led these days in a way he’d rather not go...But, This book is also for the gentle ones who’ve lived among wolves...It is for those who’ve broken free of collar to romp in fields of love and marriage and divorce...It is for those who mourn, who’ve been mourning most of their lives, yet they hang on to shall be comforted...It is for those who’ve dreamed of entertaining angels but found instead a few friends of great price...It is for the younger and elder prodigals who’ve come to their senses again, and again, and again, and again...It is for those who strain at pious piffle because they’ve been swallowed by Mercy itself...This book is for myself and those who have been around the block enough times that we dare to whisper the ragamuffin’s rumor— all is grace.”...
Maybe in this word I call hope, I find hope...And in this hope, is where the Holy Spirit is dwelling...This hope is the anchor to my soul...