Steady Hope

The what if game can go both ways. The what if game that fosters hope or the what if game that fosters fear. Hope has been my word for this year, but choosing that came with a lot of hesitancy. Hope felt uncomfortable and hope felt scary. Hope is another one of those words that's loosely tossed around and it's true meaning and power can get lost in its usage. I'm thankful for our great, great, great, great ancestors who decided to hope, despite circumstances. Who chose to hope in a Savior despite hundreds of years going by. They clung to His promises, because He is faithful and constant. They knew hoping in Him is what mattered most. Hope is a choice we get to make despite our circumstances. And it doesn't come naturally to our flesh. Naturally, our flesh is pessimistic and hopeless. Yet, our souls long to be whole, and have a sense, a longing for hope. Our souls long for Him. I'm so thankful that my hope is in Christ and that He never fails. That I could place my hope in a million different things of the world, but none will satisfy. Ultimately, the world will disappoint, and fall short. But, thank God for the gift of His Son. For the only True, Living Hope that will withstand the test of time, the failures of the world, and defeated sin, death, and the grave. Praise!! When we place our hope in worldly things, we are bound to be let down. Plans fail, people hurt, and the world disappoints. But, we serve a King Who never fails, never hurts us, and will never disappoint. I'm not saying to never hope or dream for anything. To hope for things to happen is important, but to allow those things to consume us and become what we're living for overshadows our Ultimate Hope. Additionally, when our hope is ultimately Him, our other hopes and dreams will align with His Word and ways. And when our hopes in things of this world do let us down, we can be content, because we know that His way is best.

At the beginning of this year, I started journaling about hope. To be honest, it's word I've used, a word I've been described with, a word that I've heard. But a word I never really sat back to define. So here is the definition I put together from a few different sources.

Hope: expectant believing. To believe, desire, and trust. Believing for a desire or need. The confident expectation of what God has promised and it's strength is in His faithfulness. Gosh, when our Hope is Him, there's such a security there because we know He is always faithful. What He says, He'll do. Who He says He is, He'll be. We are secure because we have Christ When He is our anchor and our foundation, when storms come, people fail, and we're left disappointed, we can rest. We can have hope even if our circumstances look hopeless, because we have an Eternal Hope.

Honestly, this year made me excited for what the Lord would reveal about me and Himself with this word. Hope sounded the complete opposite of how last year went, so I was a little nervous. I wanted hope to be one of the last words on my list. But I was also so ready to dive into this word. Because we all use it so much and that Christ is our Living Hope, I was excited to dive deeper into the character and nature of God in this area. For me to choose hope as my cry, my anthem, my foundation for this year, seemed contradictory to previous circumstances. But no other word seemed quite right. Hope felt uncomfortable, which is part of the reason I stuck with it. Because isn't it when we're most uncomfortable the Lord does the most? The most growth. The most change. The most use. Because it's at our weakest, it's where we feel least capable, His power and glory abounds the most.