Have you ever felt trapped in a hopeless situation? Do you know how to restore hope?
Well, let me share my answers to those questions. There was a time in my life when I felt hopeless. About 18 years ago my wife Laura was diagnosed with Major Clinical Depression. She had suicidal ideations. Over the next eight years, she struggled with mental illness. In the beginning, her solution was to treat her depression with alcohol. She was an alcoholic and then a recovering alcoholic. During those years she advanced to self-injury behavior, cutting, and then she proceeded to develop an eating disorder. Each attempt she made to free herself from her depression, depleted her hope. Her depression was because she felt like she had no hope.
As time went on, Laura continued with her mental illness, and I began to lose hope. How could I continue to live with her illness for either the rest of my life or the rest of her life?
I needed answers to the question “how can I restore my hope?” I searched the Word of God for answers. I wanted to know where to turn. I came upon Psalms 39:7 “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.”(ESV) I also found Psalms 62:5 “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him.”(ESV) This provided me with what seemed to be easy answers, but ultimately, my questions were far more personal than I imagined. Below are the questions and how I answered them, or rather how God answered them for me.
What was the HOPE I was seeking? Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (ESV) I saw how my hope was directly connected with my faith. It was hope that led me to faith. This caused me to realize that if I trusted God’s Word, then I would decide to believe what He says. Easy task, right?
Yet how do I get to the point where I truly place my hope in God? I needed to keep searching. Well again, God provided answers for me in His Word. Philippians 1:6 says, “And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (ESV) I concluded that on my own, I was incapable of accurately placing my hope in God. I needed help! Suddenly, it became clear to me, it wasn’t me, but God in me, completing His work in me. He sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in me. I needed to ask the Holy Spirit to start the restoration of hope in my life and I needed to accept His help. “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:5 (ESV) What I needed, was the Holy Spirit to become my anchor, to yield to His direction and trust Him. (This is not easy for me to do, even today!) But I hold on to this promise from God in Hebrews 6:19, “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,” (ESV)
In closing, receive these scriptures as a blessing for you from Father God. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3-5 (ESV)
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”Romans 15:13 (ESV)
If you do not know Jesus the true source of hope does not abide in you. Learn how to get the hope you need. Learn how to know Jesus
If you have not read my previous blogs you can find them here.
You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here.
eBook or Audiobook versions can be found at Westbow Press or Christianbook.com at Amazon or Google
