To Hope Again...
““Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised, is faithful.””
I am no stranger to heartbreak, disappointment and loss and if you’ve been on this earth for more than five minutes I’d guess it’s the same for you too…
Life can be so painful, and we often find ourselves face to face with a reality we had not anticipated. I have learned that sometimes in our haste to move on, and move forward we neglect to take the time to grieve, heal and assess the damage. As a result, we often show up to new spaces, places and people with only a portion of ourselves; a shadow of who we once were.
Today, I am here to hold your hand as we walk through that rocky road together. I’ll go first.
Yours, Truly. New York.
From an early age I was taught that the antidote to life’s troubles was faith in God. I believed this and walked it out in my daily life. When trouble arose, I’d pray and if it persisted, I’d fast. I just knew that God would answer me, and quickly. In many instances, He did. Some prayers were answered with speed and without much toil. Yet, I began to notice that other, more pressing, issues remained unresolved. In addition, there were promises that God had made that had not come to life.
Like a good soldier, I continued to pray and believe without any sign of movement in these areas. But, over time I became weary. With each battle I faced, each time I prayed on the same issue over and over again and saw no change, with every “no”, “not yet”, “not this”, not this way”, and perhaps the most painful of all, “not this person”; a piece of my ability to boundlessly hope was chipped away. Nothing had prepared me for the raw, unfiltered grief associated with disappointment.
A Safe Place To Hope
By this point, I had already experienced the truth of who God is, so there was no denying that He is real. I had also come to experience His love and mercy so I couldn’t reject the principle that He is good. I could not walk away from Him, so I found a way to cope. I discovered a much safer landing place was to simply go with the flow of life. I tucked the desires of my heart away and I stopped asking for more from God. I stopped dreaming beyond my current reality. I stopped hoping…
After all, if you don’t allow yourself to hope, you leave no room for disappointment. Or, so I thought. During this process, I learned there is a greater disappointment still; the soul quenching disappointment of living below the standard God has created you for. Proverbs 13:12 so eloquently explains the human condition, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick”. However, the end of the verse speaks to something so beautiful that is birthed when we dare to believe again, “but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”
There is a new season on the horizon, and for many of us it has already begun. A season that requires us to show up fully in our God-given giftings, talents, and positions. It is a moment in time that requires us to perfectly align ourselves with the vision God has given us no matter how farfetched it may seem. We can no longer afford to ride the wind of hopelessness. It is time to be intentional about the things we hope for. But how?
How can you pursue something fervently when your hope is broken? How can you envision yourself in a healthy marriage if all of your previous relationships were toxic and failed? How can you see yourself financially stable after bankruptcy? How can you trust this new person in your life when every other friend has broken your heart? How can you write out the model for a business plan when the last business tanked? How can you muster up the courage to try again after grieving the loss of a child?
Here is how: place your hope in the hands of God. God has made us a promise that if our hope is in Him, He will strengthen us as we wait (Isaiah 40:31). Furthermore, Romans 5:5 reads, “This hope (in God through hard times) will not lead to disappointment”. On the contrary, hope in God will lead to the tree of life stated in Proverbs 13:12.
Your Faith Needs Your Hope
The end result of every goal, dream, idea, vision, and plan that we will ever pursue or reject is contingent on how deeply our faith is rooted in God. Why? Because faith is the currency of Heaven and without faith it is impossible to please God. As a matter fact, the Bible shows us countless instances where faith caused the impossible to become possible. The thing is, hope is the prerequisite to faith. Let’s take a deeper look.
Now faith is confidence (the substance) in what we hope for and assurance (a promise) about what we do not see.
Yours Truly. New York.
Beloved, your faith needs your hope. Your future needs your hope. In order to reap the amazing things that God has in store for us in this coming season we first have to plant; to invest in the vision God has given us. We must plant seeds of hope, that will fuel faith and faith in action will bring the vision God has given us to life.
Beloved, take a risk, dare to hope again, and wait for the tree of life…
““May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit””
