Change...

Change is hard!  While Isaiah & 1 & 2 Kings were written to God's people when they were being punished for having consistently walked away from God and His word.  Jeremiah and 1 & 2 Chronicles were written to those that had been in exile for several years.  The books cover the same history but have a different purpose.  Jeremiah and the Chronicles are trying to prepare people that felt abandoned by God, "picked on because of their forefathers sins" you might say, God was trying to explain history with a backdrop of hope.  In so many words - "change your habits I have created you to live for better things than this".  How do we keep our goals, or new wholesome habits we made for the New Year.  One way is to fortify our hope.  It has been said, "hope is like oxygen, you don't really miss it until you don't have it and you really can't live but a minute or two without it."   In hospice some of our greatest challenges is to help people see hope in spite of being surrounded by symptoms of death.   Is Jeremiah's words vain or hopeful? What is to be our focus that brings hope when the doctor says, hospice might be a good option for you now? Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."