Having Hope in Hopeless Situations

One thing that I have been thinking about a lot is the concept of having hope.

Lately, there have been so many crazy things going on; and we have been in the need of some serious doses of hope. I can say that with complete confidence because it is so very evident in all of our social media, speeches, and personal conversations. My heart has been truly going through such a struggle of what truly is the right way to see things. In spite of that, I have been able to have hope; a hope that truly surpasses all of my worrying & agitation with the world's systems and ideas.  I have a hope, that every time I grasp onto it, I have stability. I could take this time to discuss all of the obvious situations and concerns that have been occurring in our world; but instead, I am going to take this time to make it personal. I wanted to discuss hope today, and how we can have hope in hopeless situations. 

A few months ago, consistently, I would wake up having such a hard time getting out of bed. My heart was broken. My heart was hurting. I seriously felt like I had a million tons on top of me. I wanted to run away from everything going on around me. In short, I was going through a truly challenging time. I would spend most of my time before/after work crying, and feeling absolutely hopeless because the situation looked like it was absolutely hopeless. I cried so much in those days that my eyes would literally be burning.

It was a really sad point for my life.

So in the midst of all of this sluggish action, I decided one day to make a sign. I know this sounds really "rando" (aka random) but I made a sign at my job that says:

I HAVE HOPE 

This meant so much; because in the middle of me going through one of the most challenging situations of my life, I took a stand and said:

​"Even though I don't feel it right now, I am going to have hope for this hopeless situation."

It has been 6 months since I made that sign, and I have seen such a change in my situation. I could say that everything is perfect now; but that would a complete lie. The truth is making the sign at my job was not the solution to my problem. The solution was putting my hope in something bigger than my own brain and my own ideas.

I put my hope in God. I put my hope in that fact that I knew He was for me and that He wasn't against me. I put my hope in the fact that He said even though I would go through trials and tribulations of all kinds, that He had already overcome it all. I put my hope in that.

Can I say that everything has been perfect since that moment?

Well..............no, I can't say that. I still have dealt with some hopeless moments since then; but I know that if I decide to go to Him, He will take all of the hurt. He says to cast my cares on him because he cares for me. That's a big, BIG deal and I know that I have do A LOT of casting.  

I guess that is my encouragement for the day.

Are you hopeless?
Are you feeling like you are living in a box that have tall, tall walls that you feel trapped in?
Do you feel like worry and anxiety are overwhelming you?

My heart for you, reading this, is that you would cast your cares on Him who loves you. Casting your cares could be different at different stages of the problem. Casting your cares at the beginning could be allowing yourself to cry it all out. Casting your cares at another stage could be drawing a line in the sand and saying, "I will have hope" like I did when I made my sign. It is different for everyone; but the main point is the casting. He loves you, and doesn't want you to be weighed down by anything.

​Try it. Cast your cares in every situation.

​- Jacquelin