#HopedealersSample

Day 9: The Ultimate Goal

In today's reading, the Israelites had spent 40 years wandering in the desert, waiting to be able to go into the Promised Land. And now the time had arrived! Their story of aimlessness and purposelessness was about to change and they were finally about to embrace their destiny. But they had to cross the Jordan River first.

There wasn't a bridge to cross or a handy barge that could handle 40,000 Israelites, so it was up to God to provide a miracle. Echoing the miracle that He provided when He'd led the Israelites out of Egypt all those years before, He stopped the waters of the Jordan from flowing so that they could cross it on dry land.

But Joshua told some men to grab some stones from the bottom of the river and bring them up into the Promised Land. They carried those stones all the way until the Israelites set up camp, and then they stacked those stones and made them a monument.

Why? Joshua tells us:

"When your children ask their parents in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel crossed over the Jordan here on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we crossed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, and so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” (Joshua 4:21b-24, NRSV)

Those stones came from the literal rock bottom to become a storytelling prompt for generations to come.

The stones became the story.

That's what HopeDealers do.

HopeDealers are just people who are willing to say YES.

YES to their story.

YES to others.

YES to sharing.

YES to sowing the seeds of hope.

Sometimes it seems counterintuitive. Sometimes it can be painful. But we HopeDealers must do it .

As you’ve read throughout this plan, God loves to tell a comeback story. God is still working miracles today. You are one of them! Don’t sit on the special work that God has done to bring you to this place of restoration. Choose to pass it along to the hundreds, the thousands, the millions who need what you have.

You have a special kind of hope. It’s your hope. It’s unique to you. And if you have trouble believing you're that special, I don't know what to tell you other than this: you are. You don't need a testimony that starts with you lying on a dirty air mattress surrounded by used heroin needles. You don't need to have OD’d or died.

All you need is a story. Your story.

Today is the day you start to tell your HopeDealer story. Don’t waste another moment. Sow the seeds. Sing your song.

Deal some hope.

Because hope is alive.

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Need more HOPE? Find some of Lance Lang's other book material online at LanceLang.com