Hope Remains Despite Hardship by Grace Fox
The pandemic has taken so much from the world’s population. Personally, it halted international travel for me and my husband. This has been tough because we direct a missionary sending agency and provide staff care to global workers. It’s kept us apart from our children and grandchildren and stopped in-person fellowship with other believers. It compounded our grief when my 88-year-old mother became seriously ill and passed away last fall. Yes, the pandemic has taken so much, but it cannot steal my hope.
True hope is more than an optimistic outlook. It’s the anticipation of a favorable outcome under God’s direction. It’s rooted in the truth that God is wise, good, and powerful. It’s based on the belief that He’s involved in the details of our lives even when those details don’t make sense or turn out as we wish.
In the midst of ongoing uncertainty, you and I need hope now more than ever. Choosing to focus on the Problem-Solver and His promises rather than on the problem will help keep hope alive. So will developing an attitude of gratitude. We don’t need to give thanks for the hard things we’re experiencing, but we can give thanks for blessings even in the midst of them. Finally, we can choose to trust God with the unknown. We don’t know what 2021 holds but we know God holds us, and therein lies hope. Holocaust survivor Corrie Ten Boom described it this way: “When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.”
We’re in good hands with God as our engineer. He sees the track ahead and knows where it leads. Hope comes when we choose to trust Him, keeping our eyes on Him rather than our circumstances.
Grace Fox co-directs an international non-profit, speaks at women’s events overseas and across North America, and has authored ten books. She’s a regular contributor to Mornings with Jesus (Guideposts) and a member of the “First 5” writing team for Proverbs 31 Ministries. Her new devotional Finding Hope in Crisis: Devotions for Calm in Chaos is available wherever books are sold.
Link for Finding Hope in Crisis: Devotions for Calm in Chaos — https://tinyurl.com/y4re4jfh