Hope Changes EverythingSample

Hope is always there; we just don’t always recognize it because it doesn’t always look like we would expect. But that doesn’t make it disappear.

The real you is still somewhere in there. You may not see it when you look in the mirror—you may think you look like a rundown, hard-lived old person… but those are just looks.

Or let’s look at it this way: a hundred-dollar bill is worth a hundred dollars no matter what condition it’s in. It can be crisp and new and so fresh from the bank that it sticks to all the other hundreds in the stack (or so I assume—I’m not used to handling stacks of hundreds). Or it can be rumpled and marked up and stepped on by hundreds of unsuspecting people after it floated down to a sewer grate.

Either way, it’s a hundred bucks.

You don’t get to decide its value… because a higher authority has already determined how valuable it is, regardless of what you believe about it.

In the same way, your true nature is there, inside you, whether you recognize it or not. The hope-filled you, the victorious you, the fearless you, the courageous you.

The real you.

And now, here are a few tips to help you know the real you:

1) Slow Down

In the moment, your impulses will tell you lies. These are all impulses, and if you’ll learn to pause and recognize them for what they are, you’ll see the hope that comes from slowing down and avoiding impulsive behavior.

2) Know Your Stuff

Want to see more hope in your life? Take an active role in learning about it. There’s something really great about getting outside yourself and learning about the world around you that helps you slow down and appreciate things—and make better decisions. Find something you’re interested in, and then go learn more about it.

3) Recognize Your Problems

We all have problems and we all have tendencies. Every single one of us. And so we must start learning how to recognize those tendencies so we can minimize the negative ones as much as possible and maximize the positive ones.

4) Plan, Prepare, Pray, Play

Planning is the idea of being intentional about your future so you can discover the real you that’s lying underneath. Instead of just blindly stumbling around from day to day, planning helps you figure out some goals you want to achieve and puts some purpose to your life.

Preparing is the idea of taking those goals and breaking them down into practical, achievable steps with measurable outcomes.

Praying is exactly what it sounds like. All your planning and preparing are worthless if they you don’t bathe them in prayer. When you blanket your plans and preparations in prayer, you’ll be more confident in each step you take, and you’ll feel much better about the rare times when you must act on impulse.

Playing is the act of enjoyment! If you want to see how hope can change you, then you have to get out and enjoy life. Quit whining, turn off the TV, and go play.

5) Forgive

Bitterness is a weight that holds you back and keeps you down. It’s an anchor that ties you to your pain and keeps that mask over your face. When you forgive, you’re acknowledging the power of your pain, you’re recognizing what it is doing within you, and you’re intentionally cutting off that power in order to get out of that debilitating cycle you’re in. Forgiveness brings with it freedom, but sometimes to get there you have to forgive over and over again, probably for the rest of your life.

6) Know Yourself

Who are you? I mean, really: who are you? Do you know? Have you ever known? Do you know how awesome, talented, intelligent, and wonderful you are? Do you know how crazy God is about you, and not for anything you do but just because He loves you?

Do you know?

When you know yourself, you can feel comfortable giving yourself time and energy to pursue the things that are important to you. You can feel okay giving yourself opportunities to chase after your dreams, allowing hope to flood your soul and become the fuel for your passions. You can recognize your strengths, but most importantly your weaknesses, and you can begin to set healthy boundaries that enable you to grow securely in your confidence and spirituality.

You probably aren’t going to discover the real you in a day. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t at least get started on it! Day by day, little by little, you’ll start to peel off your mask and see your true self. Maybe it’s too hard to pull back a lot of it today—maybe the memories are too fresh or the pain is too deep or the fear of a healthy-but-uncertain future is just too great. That’s okay. What can you do today?

Don’t stop pushing ahead. Forward motion is good, even if it’s barely perceptible. That is when you can overcome your fears and start to move forward in the rest of your life. You can’t change your past, but you can live in hope for today, and when you do that, you’re taking a stand for the future.

Hope begins now.