Christmas is over. All the gifts have been unwrapped and it’s time to take down the tree until next year. Did you get what you wanted? Maybe those socks Aunt Betty gave you can be returned for something you like. Or maybe you’re stuck with that tangerine-colored scarf and gloves your friend knitted for you. Perhaps you loved all your gifts and just wish there was one more sitting under the tree with your name on it.

I have started a study on “Hope” for this new year. It is amazing how many scriptures speak of hope. God knows that we live in a world of hopelessness and pain visits us every so often. Sometimes it comes in the form of disappointment. Other times it is dressed in robes of excruciating despair. Maybe yours, like an unwanted visitor, just keeps hanging around and never leaves. However it comes, it doesn’t come from Heaven. God is referred to as many things and one of them is the “God of Hope” (Rom. 15:13).

Whether you were happy with your Christmas presents or not, whether you wish you had more or are satisfied, you have one more to look forward to! Colossians 1:5 tells us that one more gift is laid up for us in Heaven. Hope is laid up for us.

Prit and I love to surprise our children. Often, we’ll lay out gifts and watch them open them one by one. After they’re finished, we’ll say, ”There’s one more gift!” It’ll usually be set apart from the others and is the nicest of all. It’s worth it to see the expression on their faces when we hand them the last one. Colossians 1:5, to me, is like the Lord telling us ”There’s one more!” It’s the grand finale. What a beautiful thought that He has one more gift laid up for us in Heaven. HOPE!

I have asked some of our supporting pastors to contribute to our Rehoboth site some thoughts concerning ”Hope for the New Year.” I know you, our readers, are going to be incredibly blessed by their words of wisdom and comfort. Be sure to follow the updates. They’ll be coming soon!

Dana