Four Reasons to Hold to Hope in Difficult Seasons

I don’t bother to stem the flow of hot tears as they track a trail down my face–marking a testimony of grief and frustration on the pages of my prayer journal. For over ten years, I’ve huddled in this rocking chair. Spilled my heart to the only one able to answer my cries.

This season has stretched too long. Ten years seems a lifetime when a prayer goes unanswered.

How do we hope in God in times when faith runs dry like a desert creek? When we feel hopeless?

We Hold to Hope Because Jesus’ Power Flows Through Us

Hemorrhaging for twelve years, she lived as a social outcast. All of her money spent on useless cures, the woman yearned for relief from the constant pain. For human connection.

Covering her head, she ventured into the streets. If only she could push through the crowd. Get close enough to touch the hem of his robe. She knew one gentle stroke would set her free. Hadn’t she “heard the reports concerning Jesus?” (Mark 5:27)

In her pain and desperation, the woman with the issue of blood sought the Savior.

Whether we stand in a crowd with our arms outstretched or cry quiet tears borne of trouble, His power flows through us. As Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:37 NIV)

Healing may not come how or when we expect it, but one day all things will be put right. Click To Tweet

Healing may not come how or when we expect it, but one day all things will be put right.

 

We Hold to Hope Because God is Faithful

Her womb barren for decades, Sarah scoffed at the promise Abraham continued to champion. The only heir in her husband’s life was Ishmael–Hagar’s son. He was her own futile attempt to compensate for arms that longed to bear the weight of a child.

But Abraham clung to his belief. God is faithful, Sarah. He is not like a man that He should lie.

One afternoon while she ground grain for bread, Abraham rushed into the tent, panting for breath. “Quick!” he said. “Get about 36 pounds of the finest flour. Prepare it and bake some bread.” (Genesis 18:6 NIRV)

Giving directions to her servants, Sarah ensured beautiful rounds of dough were readied and then discreetly pulled the tent curtains aside. Why all the commotion?

Abraham lingered near three men dressed in flowing robes. Distinguished and tall, they asked, “Where is your wife, Sarah?”

“Over there in the tent,” he said.

Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year. Your wife Sarah will have a son.” (Genesis 18:9-10 NIV)

And Sarah laughed. But Abraham?

Abraham didn’t focus on his own impotence and say, “It’s hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child.” Nor did he survey Sarah’s decades of infertility and give up. He didn’t tiptoe around God’s promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said. (Romans 4:19-21 MSG)

Nothing limits God. Not age. Not time. Not impatience, infertility, or illness.

We hold to hope because God is limitless and faithful to His word. Click To Tweet

We hold to hope because God is limitless and faithful to His word.

 

We Hold to Hope Because God Does the Impossible

Her life waned like the moon in a winter sky and terror squeezed the breath from my lungs. I could barely expel the words as I gripped my infant daughter to my chest, “Dave, she’s not breathing.”

Hundreds of years ago, the Shunammite woman felt the same panic ripple down her arms. The same rush of fear sent her heart slamming against her ribcage. But her words?

“It will be alright.” (2 Kings 4:23).

Without hesitating, the determined mother trekked across twenty miles on the back of a donkey to Elisha’s house. The prophet had pronounced life in her womb years ago.  Surely, he could give her son life now.

Wealthy and influential, the Shunamite woman might have turned to local people in her village for support. The gods and temple worshippers of the town. Instead, she searched desperately for the “man of God” –certain the God Elisha served would answer his prayers.

As our priest and prophet, Christ died and rose again that we might approach the throne boldly “so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”. (Hebrews 4:16 NIV)

Not everyone was raised in scripture, nor will many defy the grave. But sometimes God defies logic. He filters our struggle through an unlikely miracle or unforeseen circumstances; then He plants seeds of faith, expands our testimonies, and reminds us we hold to hope because He is the God of the impossible.

...we hold to hope because He is the God of the impossible. Click To Tweet

And in every circumstance, He gives us an eternal promise. (John 3:15)

We Hold to Hope Because He Walks Through the Fire

“Is it true?” A vein throbbed at the base of the King’s neck and spittle flew from his mouth. The young men cast sideways glances at one another, their tongues sticking to the roofs of their mouths. Finally, one of them spoke. “…we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:18 NIV)

His face as stony as the idol he had commanded the others to worship, Nebuchadnezzar demanded the furnace be heated to seven times its usual intensity, the young men bound, and then cast to their death in the fiery blaze.

Have you walked through fire? Perhaps you feel as though you’re walking through the flames right now. Sometimes, emotional heartache cuts as deeply as physical pain. Grief, loss, and loneliness can sear the soul as much as parenting struggles or chronic illness. We begin to wonder if we’ll ever make it beyond the pain of the moment.

Often, surprise strikes us in the same way it did King Nebuchadnezzar when Christ delivered his faithful followers from the furnace. “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” (Daniel 3:25 NIV)

This triumphant story illustrates two important points.

First, Christ walks with us through our trials and during the long seasons. He remains by our side in the heat of the fiery furnace. And when we think all is lost? He releases us from that which held us captive.

Why do we hold to hope in seasons that stretch too long? No matter the story, God always triumphs. #hopeinGod Click To Tweet

Why do we hold to hope in seasons that stretch too long? No matter the story, God always triumphs.

 

Peace and grace,
Tammy

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