Hope

One of the hardest things I have seen over the years is to watch individuals lose hope. Hope is such a vital part of our lives and is a foundation stone on which our lives are built. When we become hopeless the rest of our house starts to crumble. Hope is the joyful anticipation of good things. It is the expectation that good is going to happen. Hope is a gift from the Lord. It is born out of the revelation that He is a good Father and has only good plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11). Out of that revelation we start anticipating His goodness.

The best way I know how to describe it is a child on Christmas Eve. They go to bed with hope and excitement about what is under the tree on Christmas morning and wake up with joy and elation of what they have been hoping for. They were anticipating good things. They weren't wishing for good things because hope is not wishing. It's not our lucky dice that we are rolling wishing something good will happen. Hope is anticipation. It's that excited feeling of knowing good things are about to happen.

Proverbs 13:12 says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life" (NLT). It's important to understand that unfulfilled dreams doesn't make our heart sick. It is when we stop joyfully anticipating those dreams coming to pass that our heart becomes sick. Hopelessness will make us sick physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It is a virus that will spread throughout our whole being. Hopelessness is an enemy that wants to devour our whole life. Hope, on the other hand, breathes life into us. It gives us a reason to live. It makes everyday like Christmas morning. It causes us to love life, to enjoy it. It allows us to dream and to wake up everyday with a purpose. So let's hope! Let's go to bed every night like its Christmas Eve and wake up running down the hall, excited about what He has for us today!