Dangerous HOPE

To live is to wait.  Waiting doesn't sound like living, it sounds like the enemy of living! But let’s face it, we’re usually waiting expectantly (impatiently!) for something. Waiting to grow up. Waiting  to graduate. Waiting to meet the right person. Waiting to get promoted. Waiting to get married. Waiting  to buy a house. Waiting to have a baby. Waiting for our spouse to notice us again. Waiting for our prodigal child to return. Waiting for traffic. Waiting for Christmas…

In these situations, we hope. Hope sounds like such a good, kind word.  Something our Moms would say in an encouraging tone. It sounds so…hopeful.

I was living in hope for something…for a long time… and I was still waiting…and other people began to get what I had been patiently hoping for…and I was still waiting empty handed…and finally, it begins to feel too dangerous to hope.

I felt a bit like a fool. A little bit duped by my own heart. I was disappointed. And embarrassed.  And so it seemed like the safest thing to do was give up hope. “It’s not smart to live with that much hope,” I reasoned, “I’ll just protect myself by expecting less.”  I even Christianized this thought by reassuring myself that my life is part of God’s plan, I’m just along for the ride, it’s all in His hands so I don’t want to  interfere. My new motto was Give Up ‘Til He Shows Up.

But guess what: when we expect nothing that’s just what we’re gonna get: NOTHING! Waiting without hope is basically waiting for nothing. IT’S POINTLESS TO WAIT WITHOUT HOPE!!! God made us to have hope.

Protecting myself from Hope was protecting myself from the very thing that was going to give me the strength to keep going! People die when hope is lost. Hope is what gives us the strength to try harder. Hope is what makes us get up again, take a chance, challenge our fears and expect a win! Hope circulates faith and dreams and expectation into every situation we face in life.  God shows up in our hope. He partners with our Faith. He wants us to BELIEVE!

Miracles happen when someone believes, even as much as a mustard seed!

Have you been waiting so long that YOU gave up hope? Maybe you didn't even realize that you gave up until you heard your own sarcastic comment about your situation. Take off the armor that’s only protecting you from the good God wants to do on your behalf. Embrace hope! Change your words to HOPE! Change your prayers to HOPE! Change your fear to HOPE! Change your actions to HOPE! Change your lifestyle to HOPE! Partner with what God wants to do with your life and LIVE IN HOPE!

Isaiah 40:31

but those who hope in the Lord

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.