UnexpectedSample

When we look at the unexpected situations in our lives, we will always find ourselves standing at the threshold of either falling into the chasm of despair, or falling into the arms of a gracious, loving and caring God—a God who wants to carry us over that chasm of despair into a wide-open spacious place of hope.

Hope is unshakeable confidence in God. It doesn’t deny the reality of our pain, but it does give us a life beyond our pain. It gives us permission for a new beginning. It is the happy and confident expectation of good, that lifts our spirits and dares us to believe for a different future. It is always looking to God: “And now, Lord, what do I wait for and expect? My hope and expectation are in you” (Psalm 39:7).

We only can do what we are able to do in our own strength, but when we lean into God, when we run to our stronghold Jesus, he promises to overflow our lives with hope: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). He promises to help us become the prisoners of hope he’s called us to be so we can stay hopeful, free to step into a new destiny that we might have never envisioned. 

Sometimes I think hope is an act of defiance, one that God wants us to boldly commit. It’s daring to believe in spite of our losses, in spite of our disappointments. It’s refusing to throw away our confidence and trusting God to reward us because we don’t. It’s daring not to give up and instead, to get our hopes up anyway.

When we risk hoping again, we learn how to live in the present with our future in mind. We move our focus forward. We become prisoners of hope who cling to hope, who speak the language of hope, who don’t put off hope, who live in a place of freedom letting God surprise us with a new future. When we become prisoners of hope, then hope quits being postponed, and the desires God placed in our hearts will be fulfilled—somehow and some way.

Adapted from Unexpected: Leave Fear Behind, Move Forward in Faith, Embrace the Adventure by Christine Caine. Copyright © 2018 by Christine Caine. Reprinted with permission of Zondervan Publishing. All rights reserved.