We can know that God is offering us gifts of life and a promise of salvation, even in the midst of whatever we’re going through.

To keep praying with hope and expectation requires effort and perseverance, as well as great courage and patience. Don’t give up, because one thing is certain. God wants you to know his love for you is more extravagant and all-encompassing than you could ever imagine.

Just as a parent who is singing a song of love and calm over her child, God is wanting us to know that we are loved, that we are being rejoiced in.

Are you in the middle of what feels like a horrible storm? Remember how God sent a rainbow as a sign of his covenant to never again destroy all life with a flood? Keep your hope-filled eyes to the horizon, there will be a rainbow appearing for you one day soon, as well.

God has carefully placed you right where he wants you. I find great hope in knowing we each play a specific part in the body of Christ.

If you are hungry, study what Jesus said and did, especially in the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It’s clear he came to show us the way to live our own lives, and point us to his father.

Is God trying to tell a story of hope to you…but you’ve got all kinds of excuses why it won’t happen? Let me encourage you, that once you get done with all the reasons why hope isn’t real, push out into the deep water, let out your nets, and see what God does.

The Count of Monte Cristo is a great story of hope. Edmond Dantes has everything going for him, until he is wrongly imprisoned for treason against Napolean Bonaparte. It appears Dantes will simply be sent off to prison to die.

Do you know the great hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy”? It was written by a man named Reginald Heber who pastored an Anglican church in England—a church that was previously pastored by his father. Between 1811 and 1821, Reginald wrote 57 hymns, which he longed to see published; but the Anglicans hadn’t yet adopted the singing of hymns in worship. Heber packed away his hymns and sailed as a missionary to India, where he labored with intensity for a few short years before passing away at age 42. His hymns were published after his death, and one is famous to this day: Holy, Holy, Holy. There is great hope in working on something that you might never see to the end, trusting that God is involved, even if you can’t see it.

Do you have something you’re working on that you hope to see come to fruition? But you’re not quite sure how it’s going to all turn out?

One of my favorite Christian singers of all time is Steven Curtis Chapman. His music has continually given me hope and encouragement. During the dark valley that he and his family walked through after the death of his daughter, Steven struggled deeply, as you could imagine. He said that he would choose to recite the Psalms to himself, and sing songs like “Blessed Be the Name,” just to hear his own voice declare those truths to himself and his family. Steven said, “God I’m going to trust You, that You are with us in this. That is really what helped save my heart, my life and my faith. I could either run into the dark, questions, and despair, or run to the one hope that I have that God is with us.” It’s in the days that followed after the accident that the idea of creating a worship album started to blossom. If you’re in a dark time right now, you too, can find hope through worshiping God.

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