Over the past year, God has been teaching me what it means to put my hope in Him alone. I'm sure this lesson will continue. Possibly until I actually learn it.

Psalm 62:5 says:

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;

my hope comes from Him."

Well, okay, great. What does that mean, anyway?

Well, about a year ago, I was realizing that all my hopes were in people, places, and things. (Yes, I was actually hoping in nouns!) My dreams for happiness depended on people and circumstances, whether I could go here, or do this, or own that, or get married.....THEN, I thought, then I will experience true joy and happiness, and my life will be complete!

But the thing God showed me was this: these things are all temporary; they can change in a moment. People and circumstances change all the time. If I trust in these things and rely on them, and then they change......I will be disappointed. But God is a Rock-- a firm foundation. He never changes, and He will never leave me! He should be my point of reference, my measuring line, because of all the "things" in this universe, Christ is the Solid Rock, and all other ground is sinking sand.

Colossians 1:17 says:

"He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."

If He holds everything together, surely He is the most solid Presence we could ever know. (No wonder the Psalmist calls God a Rock, a firm foundation, a fortress, a shield, and many other solid things....... He is!)

I still don't entirely know how to explain this trusting in Him, and only in Him. It's like jumping out of an airplane and falling with only a parachute to save you. There you are, a thousand feet above the earth, speeding closer every second, and your hope is in your parachute. Face it, if that chute doesn't open, you're dead. It is ridiculous to think that you could be saved any other way, really. Your life is dependent on that parachute.

Well, maybe it isn't the best illustration, but it's where I'm at right now. God is my parachute- everything depends on Him. I need to trust in Him alone.

God also showed me a great promise in His Word when He was teaching me about this. Or, I should say, He keeps bringing me back to this promise:

Isaiah 49:23 says:

"Then you will know that I am the Lord;

those who hope in Me will not be disappointed."

I am choosing to take the Lord literally on this one. He promised I wouldn't be disappointed! What a brilliant promise! A promise that, so far, He has kept completely, and blessed me beyond anything I could ever imagine! I don't know why I ever doubt Him. I guess we doubt so that God can teach us. Or perhaps just because we are human and we so easily forget the wonderful things God has done for us and for others.

I know that when I pull on the parachute's cord, it will open above me. The powerful wind will be caught in it's folds, and I will glide down to earth to safely land on my feet again. And I won't be disappointed. My hope is in God alone.