I am writing this after an exciting, emotional and exhausting weekend in Lynchburg, VA. It was an honor to officiate the wedding ceremony for Andrew and Hana in the same city that Stacey and I met some thirty years before. God has a way of bringing things full circle in life as only He can do. These are circumstances that we could never arrange or orchestrate. Only the Lord can make them happen in His time and way. 

As I looked at Andrew and Hana gazing into each other's eyes at the altar, it took me back to the same season in my own life. When you're in your early 20's, you are filled with hope and optimism about the future and where life will take you. You're not thinking about bills, sicknesses, unruly kids or setbacks. You tend to see life through rose-colored glasses of what might be. While it may be naive, I've come to believe that it's not all bad. We all need a dose of the hope and enthusiasm of youth.

"It is good that  a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke of his youth. (Lamentations 3:26-27)

That same passage also says that "It is because of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness." (v. 22-23) The hymn based on that passage, "Great is Thy Faithfulness" was sung at the wedding at their request. 

Whether we are young and newly married or older, we can still be filled with hope and encouragement that God can still use and bless us at any season of life. Remember that our hope is not rooted in our plans for ourselves but in  God. 

"The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him." (Lamentations 3:24)
                
                                                                                                                                                                                                    - Pastor Carpenter