A Friend of God is Joyful in Hope

In 2 Chronicles 20:7 Abraham is remembered as a friend of God.

I (Todd) was raised by a person who could be described as both a “Friend of God” and “Joyful in Hope.”  My mother, Ruby Ann Hair was a women who believed, trusted, and obeyed God.  She was a person who was set on relating with God personally and daily as well. I remember coming home from school and seeing her reading glasses laying over an open Bible on the kitchen table. I knew she had been with God. Perhaps it was all in preparation for dealing with me when I returned home from school. Nevertheless, I knew she had a friendship with God. It was evident in her art, her poetry, her peace, her joy, and her service to others.

She was a person who was Joyful in Hope even though all her life she struggled to live well in terms of her physical health. You see, she was born with and suffered from severe scoliosis and deformities that caused her to face numerous surgeries as a child and resulted in her experiencing quite a bit of pain and discomfort throughout her life. Though her body was weak and her spine malformed, her faith was strong and her hope was secure in Christ. She was not only secure in her future hope for eternal life through Jesus, she had hope for a few things in this life.  One of her greatest hopes was to be married, a desire and hope that she felt came from God and a hope that was realized on December 22^nd 1967. A second God given desire and hope was to have a child. A hope she felt she could anchor in the Lord after reading Hannah’s’ prayer in 1 Samuel.  She similarly prayed… Lord, if you’ll give me children I will give them back to you. God answered her prayer some time later when she had a son… my other brother who is in ministry as a hospice chaplain, daily sharing the hope of Jesus with people who are near the end of their earthly life. Three years later God gave her a bonus gift… another son, me!  I too am serving the Lord in ministry.

My mother, Ruby was a friend of God.  She didn’t just place her hope in Him… she found her hope in Him.  And I remember the day when her body was ultimately giving way to her degrading spinal condition and the ventilator supporting her life was turned off. We didn’t turn it off because we had lost all hope, rather, we turned it off because knew she was anchored in a greater hope than the hope of doctors, nurses, tubes and vials of medicine.  Those things were helpful for a time,  but she was not anchored to a temporary help… she was anchored to an eternal hope.

You and I can also become a Friend of God and experience the joyful hope Abraham and people like my mother had.  We all have the opportunity to cultivate Friendship-relationship with God through daily and person time with Him.  No doubt you and I can experience the same kind of faith in God that sustained Abraham for 25 years until God fulfilled his promise of a son.  We too can have the same kind of joyful hope that endures through even the hardest things in life.