Hi, I’m Lisa Vigliotta. Welcome to SUREFIRE HOPE, my Bible Study Blog.
I have been leading various Bible Study Groups since 2006 and SUREFIRE HOPE was created in the spring of 2015 as a means to easily share the teachings the Holy Spirit has inspired through the years with people within the Bible Study groups I currently lead…and anyone else that may be interested. I am a Professional Photographer – lisavigliotta.com – who specializes in Natural Light Photography, so you will see a lot of my photography throughout this blog. I also like to doddle, so a drawing or two may accompany a post if I can’t create a photograph. Being a photographer is only one facet of who I am, there are so many other passions I pursue. Here are a few more of the ‘loves’ of my life:
WIFE, MOTHER & CHRISTIAN
I am blessed to be a wife to a wonderful man and a mother to three awesome children who are my delight. I love Jesus with all my heart and in the passionate pursuit of Him, my life has become an adventure! My favourite book is the Bible, and have come to realize over the years that I am passionate about helping believers and non-believers become equipped with the knowledge of the Word of God – to that end, I have become a Storyteller.
STORYTELLING
I am a Storyteller for a number of reasons, firstly I’m of Celtic decent so its in my blood! But more than that, I am passionate about telling stories – God’s stories through the retelling and teaching of the greatest love story of all: the Bible. Part of being a Storyteller means I also love words: the history of words, the meaning of words and the power of words. Words create worlds, and when spoken, have the capacity to build up or tear down. Words are powerful; they can open up and create new perspectives and realities in our lives for good or bad. Words are pregnant with potential and they carry in them life and freedom…death and chains of oppression. Good words – “heaven-kissed” words build up, edify, encourage and break every chain. I want SUREFIRE HOPE to be a place infused with words that build up our faith; I want it to be full of the life giving Word of God – the best words in the world.
LOVER OF THE WORD OF GOD
I fell in love with Jesus when I was 3 years old in Sunday School. Soon after that my family stopped attending church, but I never stopped believing. Years later (the summer before I turned 10 to be exact) during the devastation of my parents divorce I turned to Jesus for help and asked Him for the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and He Baptized by the fire of the Holy Spirit. My life was never the same. A hunger to read God’s Word was birthed in me that day. It was then that my Daddy bought me my first bible, which I read to him nearly every night for over a year. It was then that the Bible became my favourite book.
Fast forward 17 years later: I am pregnant with our first child and I suddenly feel the responsibility and accountability to God for how we will raise our child. Even though I was a Christian and had read a lot of the New Testament throughout the years, I still had so many questions left unanswered. I couldn’t speak to the hope I had. The Old Testament was a collection of stories I recalled from my childhood, but had not yet grasped the significance for those truths for my daily life. I decided that my lack of knowledge needed to change. For the many hours spent alone in our home nursing our newborn baby girl, I read…and read….and read. I was kept company by the presence of the Lord as I spent hours each day studying the Word of God. I decided to read it like a novel, a love story in search of finding out the Father’s love for me…not told to me by anyone else but Him. I wanted to know His true identity, nature, purpose and will, and my identity in Him. When I finally finished the last book in the Bible, I was struck in awe with the consistency of His voice throughout the whole Bible. I believe every word of it. Every jot and tittle, every pen stroke, every pause. God put it all there with purpose and meaning.
SEEKING THE TRUTH
When I was done reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, I realize that I would never truly be done; that the Scriptures would be a life-long love-affair of reading for me… a well-spring of life that would never run try. I began to see the Bible as it truly was intended: A love letter written by an author who is in love with the reader. I learned that there will always be fresh revelation the Holy Spirit will show you that will apply for your life at that moment or for someone else who needs encouraging. The Bible will always be fresh.
I have also learned through the years since then, that even though I may have read a specific passage in the Bible and it now seems familiar to me or maybe even insignificant at first, I will not ”get it” all at once. Every word is in the Bible for a reason, and God will use it for our benefit in His timing. God will take us through the journey of His Word slowly, as we seek His face and grow in spiritual maturity.
THE ADVENTURE
Now, we never truly arrive, we will always be maturing in our faith…there is always something to aspire and look forward too. I am sure on the day when I am very old, or whenever Jesus takes me home, and I take my last earthly breath, that I will read something in the Scriptures that I had never understood or seen with my spiritual eyes before. There will always be new revelation from God’s Word. And for me, that is so thrilling! What an adventure. I love the anticipation of it all, the great pleasure of seeking out the treasure hidden in plain site within God’s Word – for “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” Proverbs 25:2. As believer’s, we are God’s children, and as He is the King of kings, then that would make us royalty as well. We are the kings and queens who’s glory it is to search out a matter concealed by God. How exciting is that?!?!?
As I am searching for the answers myself within the pages of the Bible I will share them here. It is my hope that SUREFIRE HOPE encourages you and ignites the flame of the Holy Spirit deep within your soul, that your relationship with Jesus will blossom and grow and that your faith in God will increase to overflowing! In the words and prayer of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:17-19 “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
Thank you for taking the time to visit SUREFIRE HOPE.
Lisa