AUTHOR’S NOTE: Today is the final day of the Gifts of the Season series! It’s been a pleasure having you along and I look forward to a new year of devotions together too. The series that has been laid on my heart for January is about wisdom, the practical application of how we do what we know. As always, I need it more than anyone and write from humility of that need. My prayer is that God will use it to encourage us toward himself, the source of wisdom, as we climb (what can feel like) impossible mountains.
Read: Ephesians 1:15-21
Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. (v. 18)
Illumination differs from light. Like a spotlight on a brick wall, God’s light may shine while our barriers keep it from penetrating into the darkest corners of our hearts. Light without illumination can keep us from understanding the hope to which God has called us, says Paul. We need the eyes of our hearts to be enlightened by the one we can trust; the walls of fear, anger, self-protection, self-aggrandizement, self-pity, and so forth to come down in his presence.
As a child, I was taught that God was good, but I also experienced abuse. The two couldn’t coexist, and I, like most abused children, concluded I was flawed and perhaps unlovable. I built walls of perfectionism to keep others from seeing inside, but in the process lost the ability to let light in. It was only after those walls begin to crack and fall I discovered God could work better through brokenness than hypervigilance. I began to see when God’s light filled my fragile, broken heart it was like treasure in clay pots (2 Corinthians 4), illuminating and healing the dark corners, then spilling out through the cracks for the sake of others. This is the hope God gave me when I let the light in.
I don’t know what your hope is, but I know God will gift it to you. I know that he who has promised is faithful (Heb. 10:23) — as faithful on the cusp of a new year as he has ever been.
Prayer: Giver of good gifts, in your kindness reach beyond our walls, illuminate the eyes of our hearts, and give us a future and a hope.
Dear Reader,
I’m glad you’re along and I pray you will be blessed, challenged, and encouraged in your faith by something you read here.
There are archives by topic below – now more than 1000 of these daily meditations to browse.
ABOUT ME:
Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.
Check out Walking When You’d Rather Fly, and learn more about the book and Amy’s other ministries. You will also find her devotional work at Words of Hope.
FREE TO YOU:
If you’d like to be notified of this blog each weekday, please look for the little blue “follow” button below (just above the topical search), and welcome!
asipoblog.com 
Well said. Come Lord Jesus, V. W. Adams
LikeLike