Hope for the Future

Recently I have been thinking about the future of the church, I'm not talking about a certain denomination, I am talking about the universal church. I have been pondering what it is going to take for the Christian faith to remain relevant in today's world and tomorrow's. It seems that year by year we see an increasingly lower number of practicing Christians and truthfully that is so scary to me. I think that we have tricked ourselves into truly believing that we can be fully self sufficient and that we have control. These two things I have come to realize that I do not have! But in today's world we look around and see people who think that they have control that they do not need anyone--even a higher power. This is frightening for us all and saddening.However, despite the growing number of people who do not believe I have recently been confronted with an outstanding number of those who do. The other day I mentioned that I was going to try out a Christian focused workout place, well I ended up going! It was amazing! I was able to get a great workout and I was able to worship God while I worked out with a group of God fearing women. I left that workout with a renewed sense of hope. God is still so active in this world, God put this unique ministry on one woman's heart and through her faithful answer she has helped spread the love of a healthy lifestyle and the love of God combined, to tons of different women.I have found myself sometimes wanting a quick fix of God and go to the quotes section of Pinterest. There I find an overwhelming load of beautiful and inspirational quotes, many of which refer to God. I even think they have a specific search labeled God quotes. God is still relevant, people still seek out something deeper than what they can see. They want to believe that there is more to this life than just the pain, sadness and violence surrounding them. My grandmother and I have talked about it, how sad this would be if this is all there was. There is something engrained in us that makes us hopeful, something deep inside of us wants to believe in something more. Why do you think we have fairytales? Fairytales preach the secular version of what religion teaches us. Fairytales teach us to have hope, to never stop believing, good always defeat evil and love is the answer to a hurting world (watch Once Upon a Time-it's a fantastic show that preaches all this). Our hearts want to believe in something bigger than ourselves.I love searching for new blogs and recently I began reading one, She Reads Truth, a Christian blog written by a handful of different God fearing women. How wonderful! I looked at a few different posts and saw a ton of comments listed below, meaning many people had read these posts, and think about the people like myself who didn't comment but read! There are people out there who still believe. God is active in this world--touching the hearts of many.And today, as I walked in to Chick fil A to get some breakfast I passed by a couple at a table. These two were holding hands, head bowed, eyes closed, participating in a blessing. I was touched in my heart, how beautiful of a scene. A couple saying a prayer of thanks to God for their time together and the food they were about to share. I know I may seem silly saying that this prayer touched me so much, but it did. Eventually one day I would like that to be my husband and I. It was a gentle reminder that God  is very much alive in the hearts of many.I want to live my life as a servant of the Lord unashamed of her faith. I want to be like the people I have noticed in the past few days, an example that God is very much alive, present and at work in this world--despite what people may say. Brothers and sisters my hope and prayer is that you will also strive to live your life as an example of faith, so that you may bring hope to a hurting world that the Lord is present and at work in your life and theirs.Jeremiah 29:13"You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart"search for the Lord with all your heart. As my pastor's benediction states "May everyone you meet see the face of Christ in you and may you see the face of Christ in everyone you meet." Show the face of Christ friends, be a hopeful reminder that God has not and will not abandon us and pray that you will also be met with the face of Christ, so that you too will be reminded that God has not and will not abandon us.May the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.