Hope is a strength within us! When we are anchored to God through HOPE… He strengthens us.
When our hope is diminished within … we feel weak and lost … don’t we?
The most relevant time when I saw the power of God’s hope was a few years ago when my husband had suddenly lost his job.
It was a shock the day I heard boots walking up the stairs at 8 am. I called out, “Who is there?” NO response… again louder… “WHO is there!!!”
He walked into the room with an empty, shocked look upon his face. I said, “What are you doing home?”
He quietly responded… “They let me go.”
“What???!!!” My mind was totally confused.
That was the beginning of a long hard season. I recall one day sitting at my desk while I was writing my book, Continuous Peace. (Funny how many things happened while writing that book.) But this day I was sitting there wanting to write the next line in the book, but I felt like I’d lost the pen to write the next line in the chapter of my own life.
I realized that I had to choose what I was going to focus on.
I asked God for the faith to trust Him. It was then that my heart was prompted to think, what did David do when his soul was downcast? I remembered that David told himself to place his hope in God. I quickly looked up the scripture.
Psalm 42:5 (NIV)
Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
David was going through an excruciating season when he told himself to put his hope in God and to praise Him. The circumstances in His life had not changed, yet he made God his focus and remembered God’s past faithfulness.
Just like David, I had to choose.
Would I focus on the faithfulness of my God, or would I choose to focus on the circumstances of my life? By faith, I chose to focus on my God! I put my hope in Him. I trusted in His will for my family. I believed and held onto Him and His truths and promises.
Romans 5:5 (AMP)
Such hope [in God’s promises] never disappoints us, because God’s love has been abundantly poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
As I entrusted Him with all that concerned me, I could feel hope illuminate the dark place and peace and praise fill my heart!
Isaiah 26:3 (NIV)
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
By trusting God in the dark, we get a front-row seat to watch Him work.
By making Him our refuge, we get to follow the light that God is shining right before our feet. Focusing on God’s faithfulness, we can continue to take our next obedient step, no matter how big or how small it is.
By faith, and HOPE in God, step by step, we will go forward.
Friend, we may need a shift in our thinking to place our HOPE in God as we trust Him with our lives. But He is our HOPE!
Knowing:
He is with us,
He goes before us,
and will never forsake us…
Those are some of the truths that our hope can rest in.
Friend, I am praying that the hope of the Lord lifts your burdens and sustains you as you follow Him.
Love,
Dawn