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Speaker 1: Life Audio. What if Christian hope isn't just rooted in survival for today, but is actually something that is anchored in restoration later. Let's talk about it in this week's episode. Hello, Hello, Hello, ladies and gents, and welcome to the Bottom Beloved Podcast. As always, it's your girl, Kirby Kelly, and today is a special day. Not only are we concluding the four part Hope series here on the podcast, we've been doing a really cool series. So you can go back and listen to parts one, two, and three where we are going through an acronym of hope where we talk about hurt, outlook purpose. Today we're talking about eternity. But what makes today so special is that today is launch day for my book, The Fabric of Hope. I'm so excited. I've been chatting about it on here. So if you've listened to this series, then I've like you're probably like, okay, girl, we know we've already pre ordered the book, but if you didn't, that's okay. You can order the book and it might even be at a retailer near you, like a Barnes and Noble or a Target. You can look it up and if it is please snap a picture, please post it, Please tag me. I would love to see if the Fabric of Hope is in stores by you, because that is so cool. Like I know that it's in stores by me, and I'm like, this is insane. I feel like such an adult, I feel like such an author. I am. But I don't know this book, this second book. There's just something really special about it. And I think it's because it is something that I'm still continuously living in, especially with my daughter coming in what three weeks? Oh, pray for me, or maybe she's here by now, I don't know. I hope not. I hope that she's been cooking a little longer and that she stays cooking a little longer. Will she be type A like her mama and arrive on time? We will see. But my hope is in the Lord, not the labor pains. Right that we don't know the day or hour. Okay, I feel like I understand that scripture way more now than I ever did before because it's a waiting game. But anyways, you can pre order the book. This is a special day. It is out, and we are going to be talking about the final topic, which is eternity because at some point in suffering, we all ask, you know, is this all that there really is, especially when it comes to living lives that maybe have been marked by suffering. I feel like my life has been marked by suffering. There has been so much good in my life, and I'm thankful for that. But along with that good, there has been a lot of bad. There has been a lot of bad, and I think it's okay for us to have a conversation about that, about how life can be really hard, seasons can be perpetually sucky. I mean, maybe you have one of those lifelong diagnosises where it's like, I feel like this is my law in life. But hope doesn't just have to be for today or tomorrow or a year from now or in a specific thing. Our hope is in Jesus, and more importantly, we as Christians get to have an eternal hope, and that completely sets us apart from this world, not just in terms of our salvation, but how we navigate life knowing that this life is so finite and that we get to use this time here on earth to accomplish and be about so much more the Kingdom of heaven eternity. But we're gonna be talking about that in today's episode. So let me not get a hold of my ahead of myself. Pain has a way of shrinking our vision. Let's start there. Pain has a way of shrinking our vision. When you're hurting, all you can see, it's kind of easy to get tunnel vision and to just see this moment, this diagnose, this loss, this season, this grief. It's like the thing in front of you gets magnified where it feels like that is all that there is to life. Even suffering makes life feel still, It can make life even feel small. But scripture has this repetitive narrative, idea and concept that pulls us to look at something outward, to look at something upward, to look at something greater and deeper and higher. And I love how Paul words this in Romans eight eighteen. He says, I consider our presence. Sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. We I use this scripture in another part in the series that we did. But I love it because this shows that suffering, it's not that it doesn't matter. It does matter, but it means that it's not per it's not permanent. What you are going through today does not have to define the rest of your life, and it won't have to define your eternity. Eternal hope doesn't deny pain, it puts it into perspective, an eternal perspective. Now, I want to talk about heaven because sometimes I think that Christians can around the topic of heaven. It can sound almost like avoidance in a way. All right, you know, like just hang on one day, it'll be better. At least Heaven is coming, right, Like, at least when we all die and all of this is over, everything will be great. Right. It's like, okay, that's like kind of true. But Heaven is not escapism. It shouldn't be escapism. Heaven is restoration. Heaven is a perfect picture of restoration. If you've ever heard me use or a theologian us or someone talk about the meta narrative of the Bible, meta narrative basically means like the big s story of the Bible. There are a lot of little s stories scattered all throughout the Bible. Right, you know, we have like the Garden of Eden. We have Moses, we have no Uh, we have David and Goliath. We have you know, rehab, we have Esther like there are all these people and all these moments and small stories in the Bible, and we see the meta narrative even within those little stories. But the meta narrative that like, if you think about the word meta, right, the meta narrative of the Bible is creation, fall, redemption, restoration, and Heaven is that that meta narrative picture of restoration. And we can't even see that in smaller stories in the Bible. Creation, Fall, redemption, restoration. It's kind of cool how you can like zoom into the Bible and it's like wow, we see like the little story echoes what's to come with the big story of the Bible. All right, So it's it's full. It's a full and final hope. Heaven is a full and final hope that we get to have expectation and confidence in. And I love that, especially having lost people in my life who put their hope in Jesus. It it changes everything. And I don't think that's a cliche crutch at all. Some people can treat it like that. It is a promise that has been given to those of us who have our faith in Christ. It is a promise that you know, relief and joy will follow all of the tears that we have cried and the suffering that we have gone through, especially the suffering that we have gone through for the sake of the Gospel. Speaking of tears, Revelation chapter twenty one, verses four through five says he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying and pain. And it goes on to say he who was seated on the throne said I am making everything new. I love that declaration. He's not saying I am making new things. He's saying I Am making everything new. Restoration Heaven is not God throwing away this world. It's a picture of Him redeeming it. When you actually read the Book of Revelation, it's incredibly crazy, but it's so good. I think that this reframes everything for us. It reframes grief for us, our suffering, our stories, that they all matter, that they can all be made new, that they can all amount to something greater. Kind of like last week we talked about purpose, right, because God isn't done with it yet. Eternal hope gives us the hope that God is not done yet, He is not done. Makes me think of Natasha bending Field. You know, the rest is still unwitch ten like right here, right now, perhaps we can have an eternal hope that ends with restoration that has already been written and sealed with an amen from heaven, you know what I mean, Like God can actually come in and rewrite the ending of our stories that we are living right now, the seasons we're going through, the little s stories, but in the big S story of our own life, it can end with restoration, something so much greater, something heavenly. Okay, But we live right now in this place that the theologians call the now and then not yet. And maybe you've heard that saying before, like on a podcast or your past or whatever. I think it was Ruth chose right, Ruth, Ruth Simons who wrote a book on that now and not Yet. I had somebody on here forever ago who wrote a book called Now and not Yet and it was really good. But basically what this means is, yes, Jesus has already defeated sin and death on the Cross, but this world, having sins still existing within it, has not been fully restored in the sense of sin has been completely wiped away and omitted right because we have a free will. There are people who are living in rebellion, not just against God, but like complete iniquity, where it's like I don't even see this as sin, and it's like you have been deceived, my friend. So we live in this tension right right now between hope, where it's like I hope even though I still hurt, and I'm healing even while I'm grieving, and you know, I trust God even while I'm still waiting for these things to come. And I think that Second Corinthians chapter four, verses sixteen through eighteen perfectly encapsulates this, where it says, therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day for our light, and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. What does this mean? It means that hope doesn't ignore today. I know it can kind of feel that way. Sometimes it's like you're just gaslighting the situation, or like glazing over it. Maybe people have done that for you. Like I know, even when, like I had my parents pass away, I had certain people be like, well, they're in heaven, so you should be happy, and I'm like okay, but like they're also not here, and I kind of love them and miss them, like two things can be true at the same time, like and now when and not yet? Of like they're in this beautiful place, but I'm not there yet. I wish I was with them. I like, as much as I wish they were here, I wish I was with them right where there was no suffering and no tears and it's amazing. But hope means believing today that it's not the end. It's not the end. I'm going through this and this is real, and this is present, and the emotions that come with it are real and present. But this isn't the end. There is an eternal hope that I am awaiting and get to have hope in for today, knowing what has been spoken. It's believing that you know the past seasons that you've endured forever ago, that maybe God hasn't yet come into and healed or redeemed yet. Isn't the end? Either we can hand him those things and still have hope that he can heal those parts of us, the broken child within us, the trauma that we experienced before we ever knew him. That it doesn't that doesn't have to be the end either of our stories, our testimony doesn't just have to end because like, all right, well I found Jesus and that's It's like he can go back to the before times and even begin to redeem that and restore that. Like the touching, the saving touch of the Savior is not just limited to everything that happened after you got saved. He can step in. He's outside of time. He can step into your past and like work out something good even from that from what you thought was already resolved or done, not even resolved, Like he can bring the resolution to it. You know what I mean? Eternal hope it changes how we suffer? But how how does eternal hope change how we suffer today? It gives us the courage to keep on enduring. It gives us strength to keep on waiting. It gives us confidence to keep on trusting. It gives us freedom to grieve without falling into complete despair. I love what first Peter one three through four says. It says, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, He has given us new birth, into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you. What does this mean. This means that your future is secure even when your present is shaky. We can have future hope even though we are presently shaking in the craziness of the season and the world that we are in. Hope anchors us into eternity when the present is absolutely insane, saying, you know this hurts, but God is still faithful. We can hope for what's to come because of what He has done in the past. He is faithful. You can have hope for your present today, but you can especially have hope for eternity and what will come tomorrow. Hope anchored and eternity also echoes. Yeah, this is heavy right now, but this is not forever. This is not forever. This is painful, but it can be redeemed and it will be Maybe not on this side of heaven. But I can guarantee it on that side of heaven. All right. We know this is true based on the hope of heaven, based on what Scripture says, based on the patterns throughout the Bible of God redeeming his people unto himself in some of the most drastic and dire circumstances too. I don't know if you've read your Bible recently, especially some of these Old Testament stories and acts, like what the disciples and Apostles went through. It's like these people went through it if they had an enduring hope in their Savior, in their God, knowing who he was and the promises that he made to them, whether they saw them come to fruition in their time or if it was meant for another time, another generation. Even they still hoped in God, and God was still faithful to his promises. And one of those promises we get to have today is the hope of heaven. I think about this in the context of my migraines. Right, this is something that I have endured for over ten years, and I pray and believe that God can heal me. He can, But what if he doesn't. What if we talked about that in one of these episodes, Right, what if he doesn't. Even if he doesn't, my hope is knowing that one day I will be in heaven where there will be no more sin, sickness, or sorrow or suffering. There will be complete and full redemption from those things. Can I experience that on this side of heaven? You bet? But even if he didn't, because me having this, we're to bring about a greater purpose or greater glory to him in some way that maybe I can't conceptualize. That is something that I can still hope in knowing who he is and how good he is, and how he works all things for good, and he can make all things new. That's what he is. I love that this message is interwoven throughout my book, The Fabric of Hope. It's the entirety of Fabric of Hope, right, Not with answers to every question that we may have, but with confidence in the author and finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ. This book is about trusting God in the hurt and with our questions, in the waiting, with our disappointments, with all of our unexpectations, and the suffering we go through. Because He's not just walking with us now. He will also restore everything later one day, one day he will. May that day be today, may it be next week, but even if it is not one day, it will. It's not about rushing to heaven. It's about living in light of eternity today that gives us hope, that gives us joy, that gives us the piece that is so unexplainable that it doesn't make sense to the non believer who doesn't have their hope in Christ. Amen. So if you are in a season that feels endless right now, you are not stuck. You are not beyond redemption, and you are not beyond restoration those seasons that you've gone through. God is still writing the ending of your story. He can even go back and rewrite some of the endings of the chapters you closed. I've said that time and time again in this series. But Hope Beyond Today says, my pain is not the point, my suffering is not the conclusion, and my story is not finished. So if you've walked through this whole Hope series with me, where we've talked about hurt, outlook, purpose, and eternity, then you've kind of already walked through the heart of my book. But there is still so much more that I unpack in it, especially as it relates to your own story, maybe even clearing up some of the confusion that we have about God and the theology of suffering. And I can't wait for you to read it again. It's called The Fabric of Hope, How God weaves Redemption into every season, and it is available today. It is out now, and I'm so excited to hear about the stories of hope and redemption that are woven into the fabric of your own life. That you'll be able to step back one day at the tapestry that God was reweaving and patching over and seeming and creating, and that it'll be something so much more beautiful than you ever expected. Because that's true with my life, that I've been able to step back and see from a new point of view, whether that was from time or just reflection, or God giving me a glance at what was to come, that I can look at the fabric of my own life and be like, Wow, God, this is so much more beautiful and detailed and intentional then it would have been otherwise if I didn't trust you, if I didn't allow you in if I didn't see through to your purposes and your will being done in my life when I was fighting for control. And I know that if it was true for me, it can be true for you too. You really can have confident, hope and expectation in the God that we know and love and serve and believe in the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ. Right, I'm this trying God Fathers and Spirit. He is so good and I can't wait for you your hands on this book so I'll quite ye appen. It's linked down below fabric of hoopebook dot com. And if you do get a chance to read it, especially this week, would you do me if you favor is number one? Would you leave a review? Would you leave a review of your favorite parts of the book and what spoke to you even if it's like, hey, this quote really helped me or this chapter was my favorite. Even snap a picture of it and post that too. Better yet, post it online, tag me in it on socials my social media. As Kirby is a boss, you can tag me. I would love to see your face with the book or whatever you've highlighted or journaled you and your friends. If y'all are reading the book together like a little book club, come on. We all need hope and community is a big part of that. I'm just excited to celebrate this book and also celebrate the birth of my baby too, because this has been a labor of love. Both have been. I love y'all, and I'll see you here next week for another episode on the bottom blow of bit Brah I can't even talk. I will than you guys here for another episode next week on the Bottombeloved podcast. But until then, grab your copy at fabricafotebook dot com and I will see you then bye. For more life giving, faith based podcasts just like this one, check out lifeaudio dot com, a proud partner of the Bottonbeloved Podcast