The word “hope” has particular meaning for me since that is the name of our oldest child and only daughter. We chose that name because we “hoped” that she would be a girl, but we didn’t really think it was possible since my husband was from a family of all boys, for several generations. Anyway, that is how our beloved daughter got her name. Since that time, I have read this word in the Bible repeatedly. But, like many of you, I just kind of skimmed over it. Hope? Yeah, right! What is hope? According to the Google definition, hope is a feeling of expectation and desire that a certain thing will happen. Note that it is expecting something to happen, not just wanting it to do so. How do we get to the place where we expect something to happen? Something that is probably not going to happen without some help? In my case, the hope comes from my belief in our Lord Jesus Christ. Because He can do all things and the miraculous is no problem for Him!

As a Gentile believer, I have hope in Jesus, the descendant of Jesse and the Son of God. Each day, I say prayers to the Lord, knowing that my hope is always in Him. No matter what we are going through, we have hope!

God is a God of hope and He adds joy and peace to that. While we wait for answers to our prayers, we can continue to have joy and peace in Him, trusting that the answer is on the way. Do we always get the answer that we want? Of course not! God is God and answers our prayers for our good always. Sometimes, His answer is “no” and we have to accept that with the same joy and peace that we would have accepted a “yes” reply from Him. Our hope overflows from us to others because we show them that our hope is in the Savior of the world, not in our own powers or riches or abilities, and not in receiving the answer that we want for all of our prayers.

We seek the Lord daily and we rejoice as we seek Him. He is worthy of all praise…He is the One who gives us hope. He is the reason that I am able to get up every day with praise on my lips. It is not because of my circumstances, but because of who He is. We can hope daily in His grace, mercy and love. And for that, we can magnify His name. Forever! Blessings for a day filled with hope!

Thou Art Worthy: First Baptist Church of Jackson, Mississippi