We have Hope!

Hope

Hope is a great concept, a life-saver for times when we've experienced difficulties and challenges in life. Hope gets us up in the morning when we feel like hiding under our blankets and hope helps us face the challenge after the doctor closes the door and begins sharing the news we didn't want to hear.

But hope isn't a feeling or emotion, it's not a self-created concept, and it's not something that can be found by opening a box of cereal and digging to the bottom for the prize (did you used to do that as a child?).

Hope is rugged. Hope doesn't float down like a soft fluffy cloud landing gently on your pillow at night, rather, hope is forged in hardship. Hope emerges when we've encountered trials, when we've endured the challenges of life, and thru them, have seen our character grown and strengthened.

Over the last six years in Michigan, we've been comforted by the God of hope, the God who gives us precisely what we need, precisely when we need it. And as He has guided us thru many trials, at the end of each struggle, we've found great hope in Him.

If you're looking for hope today, cling to the truth of Romans 5:3-4. Remember that hope comes with endurance, it comes when you and I lean in to God in the middle of the struggle and allow Him to do His work in us. This kind of hope, true hope, never lets us down because it is rooted in our Lord and Savior.