H-O-P-E

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.  Isaiah 40:31

Hope is a word I misuse all of the time.  I say thing like, “I hope it doesn’t rain.” or “I hope there is a parking spot close to the door.” When I really think about it, the things I “hope” for are usually things that would make my life convenient, or pleasant.  This past week I have been challenged to look at the way I use the word hope. The first thing I needed to do was compare the worldly definition (the one I most often used) to the virtue of  hope.  Here’s what I found. “Hope” is commonly used to refer to a wish connected to a person's desire. But “Godly hope”; the virtue of hope, is the confident expectation of what God has promised and its strength is in His faithfulness.  I’m pretty sure God doesn’t care about me getting sprinkled on or parking close to the front door at the grocery store so I decided I needed some work.  

I love it when God teaches a lesson and uses real people as the teachers!  Last week  I met a beautiful woman who told me she was a woman of hope.  She went on to share that for years she had prayed that her family would grow closer.  Her children were grown and moved away and she longed for them to be more connected and involved in each others life.  She said she always knew God could do that but it wasn’t until recently that she began to see him work.  She said the things God was doing in her family were filling her with such abundant hope.  As I listened to her share her story my heart both sunk and swelled as she told me that she was dying of cancer, but she was so filled with hope because God had used this situation to answer her prayer.  Fighting the disease had been the thing that drew them together.  She told me she was not afraid to die but rather hope filled because God had answered her prayer and brought her family so close that she knew they would support each other and care for her husband and make sure he didn’t get too lonely when she was gone.  I was in awe as I hugged this beautiful soul, and took a lesson on the true meaning of the word hope.


So what will I hope for now?  I hope I will be able to use the word correctly.  I pray that I can seek God working in my life and face my challenges and trials with confident expectation in his faithfulness because that’s what hope really is.

A Seed To Plant:  Think about the true definition of hope…make a new list of things you hope for. 

​Blessings on your day!