Only Hope

The end of 2012 has been marked with the stench of death. Since October when my cousin passed away suddenly to just yesterday when my childhood pastor passed away from a brain tumor, I feel like death keeps trying to steal joy. It keeps creeping in bringing fear,sadness and desperation. Even the birth of Cambrie Mae was tinged with the death of Matt's uncle and the tragedy at Sandy Hook 2 days before.

So as I sit reflecting on these past couple months willing fear not to take root in my heart I realize that the ONLY hope we have in life and death is Jesus. My family is a gift but I'm not guaranteed tomorrow with them. The only thing I can be sure of is this:

"That I am not my own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ." 

Romans 14:7-8 
For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.  If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord.  So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

I belong to Jesus!  He holds me in his hands.  He died for me so that his precious blood would cover all my sins and deliver me from the power of the evil one.  The song "In Christ Alone" has brought much comfort and truth to me in the past months and other times in the past. 

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save

Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sins curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt of life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From lifes first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand

til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ Ill stand