Welcome to the Week 1 of Advent: Together. Below, you will find art, music, and writing created by our YWAM San Diego/Baja staff around the theme of hope. This theme is the focus of the first week of Advent. Interact with this collection as you feel led this week. Join our YWAM staff and ministry community as we ponder the hope of this Advent season.
HOPE
by Alexis Brogan
When you think of hope, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? It may be the season of waiting that you are in right now. Maybe the face of someone you trust came across your mind. Maybe you remembered when all odds were against you, but you still trusted that some change would happen.
The Oxford Dictionary describes hope as a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen or a feeling of trust. To fully understand hope, we have to fully understand hopelessness. There is so much darkness going on in the world, and it is easy to feel hopeless; it is easy to have no expectation or desire for change, and it is easy not to trust. This is one of the main ways that the enemy comes against believers. When we start doubting, we will begin to feel hopeless, and once we are desperate, there is no desire in us to continue in obedience to the Lord. There becomes a “What’s the point?” attitude. Hope is our antidote to that despair.
In the midst of all the darkness of the world's reality, hope is our light. One verse in the Bible that explains this beautifully is Romans 5:3-5 (ESV)
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
When we have hope, we can endure. With the hope of the Lord, there is no such thing as a hopeless situation. As believers, we can’t let the darkness consume us; instead, we must stand firm and rejoice, even in the hard times. Rejoice in the fact that we know that there is light. Rejoice in the Hope that comes from Jesus our Savior.
This album was written and recorded in 2019 by students for our School of Worship at our Ensenada campus - Enjoy
Hope in the darkness
By Lynnea Kalinowski
A different kind of hope - A picture for Orion
By Jamie Byerly
A hope for a future.
The Israelites had experienced the Passover, the color scarlet over their doors, a symbol of salvation. When the armies of Israel came to drive out Jericho, that same color would be visible over Rahab's window, protecting her and her family who feared YAHWEH—a hope for a future. This was the salvation- an expression of the Passover- given to a faithful gentile woman. This little detail shows that God was already including the nations, those who turned to believe in him, in his redemptive plan.
By Ella Kneprath
There is Hope
God uses our suffering for our good! Where there is suffering there also must be hope. In our laboring, in the unknown, in the things not yet seen… there is HOPE.
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Romans 5:3-5 ESV
By Minerva Daily
Hope for Mexico,
This photo is about Hope for Mexico, starting with Tijuana. (Made into an embroidery for a tote bag.)
By Cinthya Clement
We hope you have enjoyed week 1 of, “Advent: Together”
We look forward to sharing more inspiration next week
