hope – Be encouraged

|Love Means|
To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.
Gilbert K. Chesterton

We want love. We need love, but it can be hard. We want forgiveness, we need forgiveness, and then we find it can be hard to extend forgiveness. We want faith. We need faith, and then life gives us a situation that drains our faith. We want hope. We need hope. Then, life is hard, and it isn’t easy to find hope.

These virtues are not those of convenience. These are the building blocks, the DNA that we need to live. Often, they are easy to receive. They are gifts, but they are gifts that are forged and fortified as a result of trials. Frequently, they are hard to extend…

When he walks out…
She wants forgiveness…
You’ve believed and believed and believed… and still nothing…
You want to hope, but it seems too grand, too far away.

But moments like these allow us to see the true depths of what love looks like and what it will do. We experience what forgiveness looks like and how far it will go. We get a glimpse of what faith can reveal and the heights it will reach for. We realize what hope is willing to endure and the length of time it will hold out.

When life is hard and overwhelming, it’s easy to believe these are out of reach. However, it’s in these exact moments that the extraordinary (miraculous?) becomes possible.

Love grows most powerfully when it’s unconditional. Forgiveness is most freeing when the burden is too heavy or not ours to carry. Faith deepens when it sees us through to the other side. Hope is most encouraging when it’s the light in the darkest moments.

Gratitude is the catalyst that allows the virtues of love, forgiveness, faith, and hope to grow. That helps us to grow. Gratitude helps us see beauty, even in brokenness. It reveals how challenges shape us to help us grow in strength, resilience, and compassion.

As we shift our focus to view challenges not as obstacles but as opportunities to deepen our faith, broaden our scope of forgiveness, inspire others with our hope, and grow in love, our perspectives change. As we’re able to keep going, we realize that this is something to be grateful for.

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Be Encouraged.

|Hope|
Hope transforms every trial.
|Kris Langham|

You’ve probably seen the post or the sweatshirt that says, “Everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be Kind.” I like that. It creates space for grace and empathy. However, it’s lacking… it’s the silence at the end that is deafening – especially if you’re the one fighting the battle.

If the statement ends there, there is someone just going through it, doing their best – sometimes just fighting to keep their head above water. Maybe it’s you? You’re fighting the battle. Doing your best, but it’s taking its toll. It’s causing you to be less patient than usual. Your short response brings a retaliatory reaction from the barista, the guy driving slow in the fast lane, “…if they only knew what I was going through…”

What if they did know what you’re going through? What would you want from them? Help? Sure. We’ve all had that friend, family member, and sometimes even a stranger who steps in to offer a helping hand to help lift the load, watch the kids, or run interference for you. It’s great, but likely, something more got you to that point that is still unresolved. Maybe that helping hand was just enough help for you to get your feet under you and keep going. Excellent. But often, there is still an ache, a gap that needs to be filled.

Hope is often the real missing ingredient. The storm is raging. The night is dark, “… here’s an umbrella…” Thanks – but the storm is still there, and the night is still dark. But instead of an umbrella, what if there was the promise of warm shelter just around the bend, and there is a trustworthy guide to lead you there? Hope. Suddenly, you muster the strength to dig deep and take the final steps to get you to the sanctuary. The storm is still there. The night is still as dark, but suddenly, there is hope.

Trials seem to come at a constant rate. I have them. The people in the circles around me have them. A friend remembers his wife passing from cancer 10 years ago. A buddy wrestles with the weight and evil he sees daily as a detective. Another is looking for work.

My word for you…for them…for me: Hope. It’s there – I promise. If you’re having a hard time finding it, ask that friend or family member to help you find it. It’s there. Perhaps you’re in a place where you can be the one to offer hope. You can be the guide who knows about the shelter.

There is hope. Set your mind to find it.

Offer hope. Be intentional about sharing it with those around you.

When the storm calms, and it will… When the dawn breaks through, and it will… be grateful. Gratitude is good for the soul.

Be Encouraged.

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