Hope is coming

I found myself this morning in Romans 15:13, and I couldn’t help but to pray these words over myself and over each one of you, because these words are a prayer, a prayer of hope, faith, and expectant longing.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13

If you’ve ever tasted the brokenness and pain of life, which, if you are alive, I imagine you have, I know that you understand how difficult it can be to even find a sliver of hope to cling to, much less to abound in hope. To have an abundance of hope in this hard, war-torn, hate-filled, broken world can seem impossible, can’t it?

So, why are these words and so many others found within the pages of God’s inspired Word? They remind us of what is possible when we walk with the God of the impossible. Abounding in hope is not out of reach for those who place their hope in Jesus Christ. The feelings of hopelessness find their way into our lives when our hope is misplaced…when it is in people, things, and desired outcomes. That isn’t hope; that is wishful thinking, desires, longings.

But HOPE…hope is a strong and confident expectation. Hope is unwavering trust in the unchanging character of God. So, we can stand in places of hope. We can walk with hope. We can bring hope to the hopeless, because Jesus Christ is our hope, and while everything in this world is temporal and changing and fading, our God does not change. He remains the same, and that is some solid ground upon which you and I can stand today.

Hope is coming, friends. It is rushing in the like the wind, ready to fill, renew, and ignite the weary heart. Hope is here. It is ever-present, constant, and ready to make its home within us.

The thing about true hope is that it’s contagious. If you have it, really have it, it’s only a matter of time before it leaks out of you onto someone else. I’ve found this to be true in me. This past year has been one immersed in the theme of hope. Have I felt hopeful every day? Absolutely not. There have been dark, hard days, but my mind has been completely fixed on this word as I’ve studied and written and put together this next book for each of you, “Hope: Tethered To An Unwavering God.”

Look ahead to January with expectation to get your hands on a copy of this one. It’s packed full of truth, life, and stories from women just like you and me, women who have been transformed by the hope that can only be found in Jesus.

Friends, hope is ours for the taking. Find it in Jesus, and run with it into the world.