Today I am thinking of the word, Hope.  Hope is a powerful force.  It enables us to overcome great obstacles.  It's absolutely essential to the life God wants us to live.  It's the fuel our hearts run on.  It's the single biggest difference between those who persevere and those who give up.

Hope is what makes couples say, "I do,"  without any guarantees, and later, after broken promises, pick up pieces and try again knowing it can get better.  It's why composers agonize over a score and artists over a canvas, believing some glimmer of beauty will emerge from the struggle.  As an old man Henri Matisse was crippled with agonizing arthritis.  When asked why he continued to wrap his achng fingers around a brush every day he replied, "The pain goes away; the beauty endures."  Laboring to paint the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel, Michelangelo grew so discouraged that he wanted to quit.  But every morning hope pushed him up the ladder to fulfill his magnificant vision.  Hope is what made Abraham leave home without knowing where God was taking him.  It made Paul challenge the powers of Rome.  This is not blind optimism, but faith focused, and hope-in God. 

"...Yoy have been my hope...my confidence since youth" (Psalm 71:5).  You can survive the loss of many things, but not the loss of hope.  Nobody experienced greater loss than Job, yet he wrote: "Having hope will give you courage."

So let's keep our hope alive by trusting in God!  Let's remember the "Hope"  that God places in our hearts and the promise the He will see us through whatever trials we face.

Learn more about the ministry of Cross Community Church online: www.crosscommunityberne.org