Have you considered that God often does His greatest work in the midst of our most painful days? Joseph was in prison as God prepared him to rule the land. Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, because the Lord will do wonders among you tomorrow.” Joshua 3:5 And God promises it will one day be over, one day when He has you put together and on your feet for good. But it is only a season, one with a beginning and an end. Suffering is a season, often a long, difficult season. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ-eternal and glorious plans they are!-will have you put together and on your feet for good. He is holding you close, wiping your tears. Or maybe it’s the overwhelming peace when you should be falling apart. Maybe it’s just the grace to get you through the day or even the moment. The moment of laughter that takes you completely by surprise. Maybe it’s through the kindness of others. But your times of anguish? You can be assured that God is closer than at any other time. There is never a time in your life where God will abandon you.

And now I watch as my children suffer their own hopelessness, as they wonder why God would allow their dad to die unexpectedly. I was suicidal when I landed in divorce court. I've walked through hopelessness when my husband was caught in an affair. Where does one turn when hope is lost? It's a question with which I struggle every single day. Or pornography that destroys your marriage. Or depression that steals the life of your spouse.

Maybe it’s addiction that robs you of your child’s youth.

The couple who prays over their sick child, begging God to save her, to heal her, only to see her life slip away? The woman who longs for a child only to suffer health consequences making it impossible for her ever to conceive? The child whose father abandoned the family and yet clings to the hope one day he will have a relationship with his dad only to see his dad die prematurely? Or the husband who sees his wife being pulled into an emotional affair, begging her to return to her family, and yet she succumbs to the other man? How about the faithful wife who has prayed fervently for her marriage to survive, and yet her husband chooses to walk away?

To believe there will ever be a better day on the horizon. When we can’t see beyond our pain to grasp the hope He offers. When our hopes and dreams are shattered, never to be fulfilled. Christ Jesus is our hope in our every circumstance.īut there are times when we feel utterly hopeless. You might say that as Christians, we are never without hope.

Losing hope hopeless