Hope Still...(Day 30 - Hope Against Hope)

Photo by Jeanette's Ozpix licensed under Creative Commons

This challenge to write 31 days has been quite a challenge for me!  It has sparked a love for the discipline of writing.

I'll be honest here.  There aren't many things I have set out to do that requires this sort of discipline. Nor have I been able to stick with something for this length of time and conquer it daily.

But I set out to do this.  No matter how late I've been awake past my bedtime or when I had other commitments, I stuck with it.  When I was easily distracted and had to stop yet again and pray, I continued.

Hoping against hope requires discipline, more so than writing every day for 31 days.  The discipline to keep going even when we lack the strength to do so.  Even when we feel defeated and empty.

We must charge ourselves to hope still.  It is a weak faith to focus entirely on difficulty that presents itself against hope.  Left to ourselves, we are weak and have a tough time seeing beyond what is right in front of us.

It is easy to hope when we can predict the outcome.  When we can see how the story will end.  But this isn't true hope at all.  This is conditional of a grand finale ending exactly how we anticipated it would.  Hope can be so trivial to us.  We put our hope in just about anything.  What others think of us, our jobs, the government, even our favorite sports teams.  But most unsettling is the hope we have in ourselves.

We don't know the thoughts or plans of God.  His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways.  We simply have to trust in His goodness and sovereignty.  We don't have to hope He is for us, we can be confident in knowing He is for us.  Our security lies in Him alone.  He is the only constant and certainty.

It comforts me to know God is never caught off guard or surprised.  Whatever comes my way, He knows I can handle it.  He has paved the way before me.  He won't permit anything beyond what I;m capable of handling.

It may sound simple until you have to live it out.   Some may falsely think their hope is in God until life happens.  Tests and troubles may disappoint us.  But hope in Him never disappoints.  Ever.

When you feel like you are on the brink of giving up.  Hope still... against hope.  I promise it will be worth it.

Friends thanks so much for sticking this out with me.  I mean it.  I appreciate it more than you know.

This is Day 30 of a 31 day series of “Hope Against Hope”. To read all of the posts in this series, click here. To read what several other bloggers are writing for the month of October, click here