The Making of Hope
Hope feels hardest when we need it most.
In the moment when all possibility of rescue or breakthrough seems lost, that’s when we find out what our hope is made of.
We’ve all had moments of despair. Moments when we felt like giving up. When we stopped believing or even hoping that something would change for the better. That breakthrough would come. That healing is possible.
A few years ago, we walked through a season of high-intensity vigilance with one of our daughters. She had experienced a trauma that threw her into full-on PTSD. She could hardly function normally. Everything became a trigger. The hours of our days were filled with coping mechanisms designed to distract her from the pain, to keep her from self-harming or escalating into panic attacks.
For many months, we needed to supervise her almost constantly and provide as much emotional support as we could, while also caring for our other kids and carrying on with normal life responsibilities. This season coincided with the initial COVID19 shutdown, so for most of this time, we didn’t see other people or experience personal support or care. It’s hard to put words to the intensity, desperation, and loneliness of that season.
Every day became a battle—a battle to keep her alive and a battle to hold on to hope.
I’m not going to pretend it was easy. My husband and I were both emotionally exhausted beyond our limits. I experienced my first moments of true panic during those months—panic that wasn’t just emotional but also physical. But I also experienced grace (supernatural empowerment) like I had never known—grace to keep going, to keep pushing for breakthrough and healing, to keep believing in God’s faithfulness and power.
It was the hardest season of our lives. But it was also a season of accelerated growth. I don’t want to walk through something like that ever again—yet I also recognize the power of what God accomplished in our daughter and in us. (I tell this story more fully in my book.)
Recently, as I was reading in Romans 5, I felt God remind me that even though he doesn’t cause the seasons of pain and loss, he wants to use them to build hope in our lives. In fact, those seasons provide us with a unique opportunity. Just as we can’t demonstrate courage without facing fearful circumstances, our fierce and mighty hope is most vividly demonstrated in the valley of the shadow of death.
At the beginning of Romans 5, Paul lists this progression:
Tribulation -> perseverance -> character -> hope
If we hold onto God during our seasons of tribulation, he promises to grow perseverance in us, which produces strength of character, which ultimately gives birth to hope in our hearts.
That’s a neat formula, you might think, But how do I really walk it out? Paul’s how-to for this is simple:
1. Celebrate in advance of the breakthrough. Paul says, “…We celebrate in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:2). In other words, our hope is ultimately in God’s glory—his presence and goodness being manifest in the world and in our hearts and lives. As long as we do not stop believing in his goodness—that he is in the fight with us—we can celebrate in hope of his glory.
We can celebrate in advance because we know God’s glory will be revealed. Does this mean things always turn out how we want them to? Obviously, no. But it does mean that we can trust him to show up on our behalf. And we can trust him to be with us and to comfort us in any kind of pain.
2. Live in God’s overflowing love. The ability to live in God’s presence, to experience his unending love for us, is one of the greatest gifts he gives us. Paul tells us that “hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5). If we want to live in hope that doesn’t disappoint, we need to live in a daily experience of God’s love for us.
What does that mean? For me, it is as simple as finding a quiet moment, focusing my mind and heart on God, and saying, “Thank you for loving me with an everlasting love.” Or, “Fill me to overflowing with your love.” The words aren’t magic. Any simple invitation will do. As I focus on him, the warmth and kindness of his presence fills me. And every time, his presence with me is mightier than any storm.
Life is good at sending us storms, making our hope look slim. But we do not have to lose heart. We do not have to despair. Even in the dark night, we can celebrate his goodness and encounter his love—and doing so will set us on the path to mighty and unshakable hope.
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