Hope When All Looks Hopeless

Can you have hope when the circumstances appear hopeless…..

Do you ever feel so overwhelmed that you are not sure how you will move forward? This is where I have found myself more often than not over the past few years.

I feel like we take one step forward and two steps back. I have frequent moments of frustration and many moments of disappointment. One night last week I had one of those nights that it went much further than disappointment, it was a night of total and complete despair. I allowed my feelings to rule, and my feelings tend to tell me how I have failed as a parent and that things are so bad that they will never improve. Thankfully, I had my sweet husband to remind me that God’s timing is not my timing. He reminded me that God will keep his promise to me, but that I may just have to wait awhile. Like a house on shifting sand, my hope wavers in those times when we are taking steps backward instead of forward.

 How do we maintain Hope when things look hopeless?

God’s word gives a great guide in Hebrews. “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.” Hebrews 10:23

1. We have to speak the word of God. Our words have power over our lives and the lives of the ones we love. We have to learn the promises that God has given us and apply them to our situation. I have 2 scriptures that are promises that I continually speak (Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. Provers 22:6; I am certain that God who began the good work in you will complete it. Phillipians 1:6) Speaking the word of God will silence the enemy’s voice- the voice that lies to me.

2. We have to trust God’s word. We have to trust hope even on days when we don’t “feel it”. Our feelings will lie to us. Our feelings are real and our feelings are valid, but it doesn’t make them truth. God’s word is truth and my feelings do not always align with his word. Yes, I just said that because it’s true. I may not feel the hope, but I have to believe the hope. I can’t waver, I have to stand strong and believe because that is what keeps me going.

Hope may not give your situation an instant fix. I wish that it would, but it probably will not. God’s timing is not our timing. His ways are not our ways. Hope doesn’t make us hurt less but it can keep us moving forward and prevent us from living in despair. Hope gives us the promise that this too shall pass.

Find God’s promises for your situation and trust that He will keep his promises to you.

We have to hold tight to God’s promise of hope. We either believe that “God is God or we don’t! Hold tight, do not give up.

Hannah Grace

If you have prayer request, please do not hesitate to leave in the comments or email me.