Dare to Hope

There is a very important person in my life who is struggling emotionally. One of her problems is that she is afraid to let herself hope, because the thought of being disappointed is more than she can bear. She is so afraid of failure that she will not even allow herself to try. She basically thinks about all the "what if's" and she thinks herself right into a state of paralysis. I cannot express how difficult and heart-wrenching it is for me to watch helplessly and not be able to really help her. I realize that I must let go, let her go through her process and allow God to do His work in her life. I told her that even if she cannot seem to find a way to hope, I will hope enough for the both of us.

There are so many people who struggle with this chronic pessimism and fear. Hope is so elusive because, in their minds, things do not seem to work out for them. What they fail to realize is they have a negative filter through which they are viewing their lives. When you do not allow yourself to see the good, you will not see it, no matter what others tell you. Those with this negative filter keep themselves imprisoned in a constant state of fear, depression, anxiety, sadness, loneliness, and hopelessness. If this resonates with you, please believe me when I tell you that freedom exists and hope is the key to that freedom.

So now you may be asking, "how do I find this hope?" The first step is to allow yourself to dare to hope, in spite of your fears. Once you make the decision, and yes, it is a decision, then you must act. It takes effort to change the way you think and view the world. Changing your negative filter to a positive, more optimistic one takes courage and work, but it is worth it. Let us look at it this way. Right now, you are depressed, sad and lonely. Does it not take up every bit of your emotional energy to live this way? If you have been able to withstand the pain of inaction, surely you can dare to hope and risk disappointment.

If you cannot seem to muster up the hope in your own strength, there is good news. You can look to your Creator to find it. As it says in Lamentations 3:21-23, "But in my mind I keep returning to something, something that gives me hope-that the grace of Adonai is not exhausted, that His compassion has not ended. On the contrary, they are new every morning!" Please let that register with you. His mercy is new EVERY MORNING! That means that every day, you have a fresh start afforded to you. You have another day to learn and grow. If you fail or are disappointed one day, you have a do-over the very next day!

If you take nothing else from this blog post, please grab hold of this. You need not fear failure. Failure is simply another opportunity to learn. Then , the next day, you have another chance to implement what you have learned. You need not fear disappointment. Disappointments are only temporary, but remember, God's mercies are PERMANENT! It is my hope and prayer that those who are suffering in the prisons of their fear learn that God will never leave them or forsake them and He will lift their heads up high (Psalm 3:3) when they cannot find it in their strength to dare to hope. He is our hope when we feel hope is absent. Today, right now, I challenge you-DARE TO HOPE! God bless!