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The Hope of eternity is an assured comfort and essential truth when life overflows with pain, loss, and deep suffering.
Knowing there will be “no more death, crying, or pain” helps us press on through the wilderness of suffering. Eternal Hope doesn’t erase our pain. It does, however, remind us that this world is not the end. As my dear friend Joy Young always said, “The best is yet to come! (Hebrews 6:19)
I’ve felt guilty at times in my grief when my eternal Hope didn’t comfort me like I expected it to. I don’t know about you but this world doesn’t always seem “like a vapor” for me as one who might have decades left to live based on life expectancy rates. Waiting for eternity feels like an eternity of its own.
A conversation between me and several other bereaved parents helped me sort all of this out. Many of us agreed that we were now experiencing so much more Hope than we did before our kids went to Heaven. One mom’s reply hit me like a ton of bricks. “How can you feel so much hope? I feel so hopeless.” How could I have missed it? Thinking back on my own grief, I too had felt swallowed up by hopelessness for at least the first three years. The best that is yet to come didn’t matter because I had no idea how I was going to survive the excruciating here and now that lay right in front of me.
This mom helped me discover a powerful and necessary distinction between Hope and hope. Although they share the same spelling, their reliability is dramatically different. Yet, their roles are greatly intertwined. Eternal hope is a promised reality. Everyday, get-you-through-this-moment hope is a hard-won, fluctuating emotion. One is constant, never-changing. The other is fleeting, present one minute and gone the next. Anguished souls can’t live the abundant life Jesus came to offer in John 10:10 without either one. They are both essential.
Eternal hope promises us a forever future.
A healthy feeling of hope, the counter to hopelessness, provides purpose and the capability to exist in the present until we reach that pain-free forever future.
What does this fundamental hopefulness look like?
Hopefulness is the tangible foundation to our survival. It’s the mussels that keep moving our feet forward each day. The glue that prevents us from crumbling when we’re overwhelmed. The sticks that prop us up when we want to collapse into a lifeless heap on the ground. The whispers that remind us we are going to make it. The beauty that arises in spite of the ashes, pushing back the Dark to make way for the Light. The loyal companions that take our hand and say, “I’m here. You’re not alone.” The meaning and purpose that are cultivated through loving well and seeking what really matters.
As we start seeing that maybe, just maybe, we won’t be devoured by grief, the hope chain begins to pull us out of the pit of despair. It’s the banner behind the blimp that reassures, Life won’t always feel this hard.
Take note that hopefulness won’t fall from the sky, It requires our intention, attention, time, effort, patience, and prayer.
Where does hopefulness come from? The exact same place we get our promised Hope–Jesus Christ, Our Living Hope.
Jesus made it possible for eternal Hope with His sacrificial death on the cross.
And Jesus helps reverse hopelessness with His love, faithfulness, peace, strength, and sustaining grace. Every ounce of provision-whether it be in the form of a comforting friend, a needed opportunity for respite, the supply of physical needs, or His tender presence-can be traced straight back to Our Redeemer. We must not ignore the importance of our own role in all of this. Restoration requires our intention, attention, time, effort, patience, and devotion to asking for help through prayer in every moment of struggle.
If you feel hopeless right now, you’re not alone. Your faith isn’t weak. There’s nothing wrong with you. Acknowledge that it’s a valid emotional response to your circumstances. The broken, difficult world we are residents of is a highly skilled robber of hopefulness, the energy that pushes us out of bed each morning to keep living.
Together, our hopefulness and Hope-assuredness were each ransomed so we can experience the fullness of our purpose here on earth while we wait with eager anticipation of our Promised Paradise.
Waiting the rest of our earthly days doesn’t have to be spent white-knuckling our faith as we sit idly looking ahead to Heaven–waiting, waiting, waiting for perfection.
Hopefulness can be cultivated even amidst the great imperfection of this world. Our lengthy wait can feel more sustainable and possible when we make meaningful investments into God’s Kingdom–connecting with, ministering to, and loving others who also struggle to live well in this miserably broken world.
We don’t have to sit and wait. We can choose to “do” while we wait.
One of my favorite quotes is from Dr. John Walker. “The wrong fight is trying to make life easy. The right battle is to live well in a difficult world.”
I don’t know how deep you are in the pit of despair right now. But I invite you to borrow my assured Hope AND my encouraging hope as you wonder whether you’ll ever be able to find your way out. I’ve been there. I stared at every inch of despair’s walls for days, weeks, months, and years. Take comfort that this dark pit doesn’t have to be your scenery forever. Light is ahead.
Hope is restorable no matter what lies your hurting heart is thundering.
You can make it.
I am.
And you will, too.
“………Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.” -Isaiah 49:23
“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” -Isaiah 40:31
“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
“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
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” -Jeremiah 29:11
“For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” -Romans 8:24-25
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” -Hebrews 10:23
