Love is, Part Three: Love is Hopeful

Love never fails.

Love perseveres.

Love always trusts and hopes.

hope
verb  \ ˈhōp \

1 : to desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment
2 : to expect with confidence : trust

-Merriam Webster

Love doesn't give up. It hopes and trusts through every circumstance.

That sounds pretty simple, but what does it really look like in our lives?

HOPING WITH EXPECTATION

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." - Hebrews 11:1.

We can hope in things that won't happen, like getting a pet unicorn for a birthday or having it rain chocolate syrup, but those hopes are pretty pointless.

But then there are things we can hope for.

We can hope for compassion, forgiveness, and restored relationships even when things look dire. 

We can hope for financial provision, physical healing, and opened doors.

We can hope for perseverance, courage, and faithfulness to the end.

We can hope for the ability to love in any and all circumstances.

We can hope for a better situation, a better outcome, and the ability to better deal with whatever comes our way.

We can expect these things. They may not always happen, but they certainly are possible.

We can pray for them knowing full well that God is capable of doing them and infinitely more if He deems it to be the best possible course of action. But we also know He may choose another way, one that we may never understand-- in which case, we can hope for greater faith to still trust that He is God and He is good.

HOLDING ONTO HOPE

We're surrounded with reasons to not hope or to give up what little hope we have. Terrible, hurtful, discouraging things happen left and right, and it seems that no one is exempt from it. But that doesn't mean good things don't happen!

And even hoping for good things can brighten our lives. Can you think of a time when you've been in a difficult situation, and yet knowing that everything would be okay actually helped you move through it with greater confidence and joy?

I can! I graduated college with no idea of what I was going to do with my life and no job lined up despite my best efforts. I was pretty stressed out, to say in the least. It was tempting to get sucked into hopelessness, but I knew that wouldn't help me in the long run.

If I did go down that slippery spiral into despair, I would've just thrown myself a pity party and wasted time feeling sorry for myself and angry with the world. And that would've helped absolutely nobody and accomplished absolutely nothing.

I worked hard to continue hoping in God's provision and faithfulness. I remembered how He had provided for me before and trusted that He would continue to do so. And that faith, that hope, gave me the motivation I needed to keep trying, to keep going, to keep moving forward despite setbacks and obstacles.

Hope is essential to our well-being. May we cling to it and pursue it even when things look hopeless at first. It's always worth it!

How have you hung onto hope and pursued it when things look hopeless? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!