HOPE. It’s a huge little word, especially this time of year. We begin a new year fueled by hope. We are eager to make new goals, have new attitudes and set out in new directions. We have hope that things will be different this year than last year. We hope that change is coming or that good things stay the same. We have hope for our families, hope for our career paths, hope for relationships and hope for a better future. Yet so often those hopes start to fade as the reality of life presses in. So often those hopes slowly turn to resignation and even bitterness as they aren’t realized. Yet sometimes not–sometimes what you hope for comes true. You work hard and press through the tough times and the low points and you meet that goal or see that change that you were hoping for. Hope is a big word, it gives energy but it also leaves room for the possibility of disappointment.
I have a lot of hope too as we step into a new year. I have hope for my writing this year. My goal is to finish my full rough manuscript of my next book. It’s a goal that I’ve given myself many times before and yet let the distractions of daily life crowd it out. I’ve recommitted and then slowly lost the drive and the purpose several times over the years. I’ve wrestled with my purpose and been plagued by self-doubt. I’ve let the enemy’s lies whisper that no one cares about what I’m writing and that my voice and words are not worth sharing. I have had little hope in the area of writing and that’s sad. I love creative writing! When I focus on it and dedicated the proper time to writing, it does fill me with purpose, energy and joy. God has blessed me with purpose in this area and can use me in so many beautiful ways when I apply the gifts he’s given me. I need to remember that this year and hold on to the hope and be consistent with the work.
My family and I moved to Missouri from Minnesota in 2021 with a lot of hope. We had dreams of owning acreage, building a home and having numerous animals. Some of those hopes were realized. We were able to purchase 33 acres and contracted with a builder to custom build our new house. We named our land our Hope Full Homestead. The process was anything but fun and many times we began to lose hope. Finally in July of 2022 we were able to move into our new house after numerous delays, almost losing it due to rising interest rates and issues with our builder never finishing on time. Even now as I write this the builder hasn’t followed though on his promises and there are holes in the drywall painting and staining that still remain undone and will probably have to be done by me. Communication with the builder has been so inconsistent and promises have been made and then broken over and over and over again. It could be so much worse and many people are going through things far more serious, but for us it was definitely a trial that put great strain on our family. We are so thankful that we have a house to live in now and a beautiful property with so much potential, but the process felt very hopeless at times. Life in this sin-wrecked world has a way of tarnishing and even destroying our hopes and melting them into bitterness.
The Bible gives hope. It’s one of the reasons we chose that word for our property. We want to be Hope Full…filled with the true HOPE that God alone gives no matter what life is like. The hope that God gives is such a different kind of hope, not just a wish but a constant reality! It’s a hope that isn’t based on the ups and downs of our earthly existence and our circumstances. It isn’t a hope that is just a feeling that comes strong and then fades away. We have a sure and certain hope in a perfect sinless Savior. He took on our miserable sin-ruined existence and lived it perfectly in our place. He actually took on himself all of our guilt before God as if it was his own and paid the full price for the sin of the world. He paid for all of my sin and all of yours. Because of Jesus Christ we have hope that nothing can take away from us. We have a hope that can fill every circumstance of our life with peace and confidence. We have the reality of a perfect future to look forward to. That’s the kind of hope to be filled with and to be reminded of every single day. That’s the kind of hope God alone can give and does!
1 Peter 1:3-6 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
Romans 5:5-7 Hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Psalm 33:18 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.
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