Hope is a seemingly small word, but she packs a big punch.
Hope seems fleeting at times, and in certain seasons of life, more often than not.
I catch glimpses of hope. At times, I catch glimpses of what I am even hoping for.
There are days where those glimpses seem to fill me up with more hope and motivation, and there are days where hope is silent. I experience times when I have hope in a moment, and in that same breath feel like I got the hope knocked right out of me.
I am learning that hope is not meant to be seen or understood. For who hopes in what is seen. It is the knowledge that unseen things are happening, and the mystery of the unseen evokes hope.
Hope requires faith, and faith hope.
“Faith is being sure of the things hoped for and certain of the things not seen.”
Hope is the desire we have that something we want can and will happen. Hope is also the desire that things will turn out for the best even if it does not look anything like we hoped.
The blessing of glimpses is also something that causes a tension in my heart. When I get glimpses of unseen things becoming visible, it motivates and gives my hope traction. However, those glimpses do not mean what is hoped for will happen soon.
Hope is a choice. Hope is a risk.
Hope requires faith in the unseen. Hope is a choice. Some days, hope takes everything I have. Hope is a choice for me to believe that there is a something just for me. Hope is a place I want to sit in. I want to hope and believe in love, kindness, faithfulness, joy, grace, forgiveness, commitment, peace, direction, and life to the full.
Hope says not me, but you , Lord.
I am hoping to be able to say that more confidently soon.
What is risky about hope for you?
holy cow!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope is my word for the year. We had something happened late last year that completely dashed my hope. And I’ve found myself re-learning to hope this year. It’s hard. It is a risk. It takes courage.
Thank you for this. I needed it today, more than you could know.
Love that Hope is your word, P-spice! I am “hoping” that you are seeing more than glimpses this year. I am really hope your heart is filled with hope.
The risk about hope for me for most of my
life up until about three years ago, was I never faced a situation that forced me to have (exercise) faith. Either I felt rudderless and God took over without my understanding of it, or when the end came, I realized that God’s process, although painful sometimes precluded faith at the same time that the end made the faith necessary. God gave me that faith, and the hope that came from it felt different from how I was conditioned to feel or understand it. Slowly, it is becoming something that I can rest in with the gift of faith that I was given. I am finding out about process and becoming ok with that. I really relate to what you wrote.
I loved how you described being “rudderless.” Your words resonate with me a lot. I am in a season of very much feeling that way. I really appreciate your words that are an encouragement to me to keep pushing. God is doing something. He is always doing something we don’t understand. Sitting in the unknown well is the hard.
i see hope as having no limits. what can i not hope for? it’s like a whole bunch of balloons released into the sky. each balloon is a specific big or small thing i hope for. (one is weekendfor family members to be born again, one is for sunny weather this )
“faith is the substance (or reality) of things hoped for”
faith is focusing in on one of those balloons, reaching for it, pursuing it.
Oops, apparently i should hope i’m more careful when i edit my comments.
Let’s try again….
i see hope as having no limits. what can i not hope for? it’s like a whole bunch of balloons released into the sky. each balloon is a specific big or small thing i hope for. (one is for family members to be born again, one is for sunny weather this weekend)
“faith is the substance (or reality) of things hoped for”
faith is focusing in on one of those balloons, reaching for it, pursuing it.
true story, Jessica! Love your analogy of the balloons! So good. You are right, what can we not hope for!?
Hope at one time in my life seemed to whimsical. No, I had to live within a space in which I could produce without fail.
Yet hope stretches me. It pulls me. It matures me. It causes me to cling to my most reliable source. And fortunately, the source is NOT me. :o)
Yes, hope packs a mighty punch and it’s because she’s a bad girl. ;)
In a good way of course…LOL!
what a beautiful sentence! “Yet hope stretches me. It pulls me. It matures me. It causes me to cling to my most reliable source.” Love how you articulated hope here. Powerful!
Hope really is stretching and transforming. learning to not fight the process so much, or even take over the process through control.
Thanks. We quickly learn that our attempts to “take over” or “have control” lead to one place, trouble. :o)