Hope

Ever feel like you have no hope?  It seems like everything you have looked forward to has been ripped away - not fast like a band-aid to ease the sting, but slowly, painfully, and it just keeps ripping. 

Thankfully, I'm not personally in this season right now, but I know it all too well.  We have all experienced this loss of hope at one time or another.  How do we get out, when nothing seems fair and all seems lost?  Scripture tells us:  "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11.  The Lord spoke these words through the prophet Jeremiah to His people who were in exile.  These people had been forced out of their homes into an unfamiliar territory.  They had seemingly lost everything.  Their lives were turned upside down and I'm sure they were asking themselves what else could go wrong.

These people had a choice...just like we have a choice.  We can allow the enemy to "steal, kill and destroy" our lives by telling us that we have no hope.  Or, we can fight back and not allow the trials of life to destroy us.  When it seems that all hope is lost, we have to remember that hope can be found, maybe in something as simple as looking forward to lunch with a friend, planning a short hike or a movie night or even picking up a hobby that you haven't done for awhile.  Take each day one at a time.  Soon enough something bigger than tomorrow will come again and hope will be restored.  

Stay steady...persevere...fight back...trust in God...and you will receive victory.