Have you been blessed with a message of hope lately? While preparing to move to a new place, this story stirred with waves of emotion being anchored with hope! Leaving a home bathed in prayer and three decades of precious memories moves me to tears one moment and cheers the next! With anticipation of settling in a new home with my oldest son and his family, the anchor that held me in place slowly pulled loose and the home Tim and I lived in and loved for seventeen years and James and I for two years became someone else’s …and someone else’s became our home sweet home ‘just like that’! Things in our lives can quickly come and go…’just like that’ in His perfect timing. Feeling strong tugs of emotions like unto waves of the sea tossing ships ‘to and fro’, I leaned on the everlasting arm of Christ our Savior for strength in the tense, testing, yet tremendous seasons of buying, selling, and settling down in a new place in the sunset season of my life. Throughout the process of picking up and plowing ahead to His plans, it is easy to get ahead or lag behind in His timing to shift and steady our anchor wherever He leads. However, we must press on and not look back as He guides and gives needed help on our journeys.
Being anchored with hope is wise wherever we are planted. Pulling up anchor and dropping it in a new place bolsters faith and brings freedom! An anchor provides freedom in ways often overlooked while sailing through life full speed ahead. Blessings can be missed as faith fades when time isn’t made for Father and family! Remembering a poem, The Fourth Ship, my seventh grade students memorized gives elaboration as this story spews from a heart so in love with the One who made the seas and knows everything about me...and you too! The Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria sailed swiftly across the ocean of blue carrying people in search of a new land to drop anchor and have freedom. The three ships sailed fast and furious to reach their destination first, and they did! Yet, they missed much in their rush! There was a fourth ship, whose name was never mentioned for it finished last; yet, those aboard enjoyed a journey across the Atlantic and had a blast enjoying sunrises, sunsets, sea gulls and porpoises playing as they passed. When they dropped anchor on American soil a little later than the other ships, they shared stories of taking time along the way to watch the wonders of each new day. What are we missing on our journeys? Do we take time to enjoy each day or miss blessings along our way? Are we anchored down and held in place with Jesus guiding us through life’s race? Hebrews 6:19 shares the healing power of hope as our steadying anchor. “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” Tim and I enjoyed sailing, often dropping anchor offshore and spending an entire day soaking up sunshine and beauty of the sea. Waves tossed and winds swayed us back and forth like a rocking chair on the water. But anchored to the solid floor beneath the waves and wind, our ship did sway but in place it stayed. Oh, the joy of learning to sail together and making memories that keep me singing as I press on to places in His plans to drop anchor and hold to the reins of hope! Our position in God is the solid ground in which hope ‘as an anchor’ keeps us steady through the changes and chances of daily life. The ground of our hope - God’s love, God’s provision, God’s power - is not always visible, any more than the floor of the ocean was visible from our sailboat. We can anchor in new places - per His plans - and rest assured He will provide. Even though we may not finish first, enjoying the journey with Him at the helm will bless and quench our thirst. God’s love is real, and when our hope is fastened faithfully in Him, we can drop anchor and praise Him in everything!