How do you keep hope alive when the world seems to be crumbling around you? I know people…people I love…who are really suffering right now. Suffering with health issues…mental and physical. Suffering with financial problems, family problems, relationship problems. Breakups. Loss. Grief.

I think we are all suffering with a collective grief right now and it’s not easy to find the silver lining in that sometimes.

When I went to God last night and prayed over my keyboard, I asked Him what He wanted me to talk to you about today. He pressed on my heart…talk about hope. Not just hope with a little “h” but big ol’ capitalized HOPE…the kind we get when we look up and not down. The kind we get when we surrender our egos and ask for help. The kind of hope that comes with big LOVE. The kind of hope the enemy tries to steal from us.

Help and hope are just a request away and can be yours every moment of every day for the rest of your life. Yes…even when the world is a dumpster fire and your life really sucks.

Something funny happens here in West Virginia…as I imagine it does in most humid climates. You can be driving along on a warm, muggy day and suddenly hit a cold spot and your windows fog up almost instantly. You reach for the windshield wipers only to find…the fog is on the inside. Your mind runs through several scenarios…trying to figure out what is wrong. Why can’t I see? How did this happen so fast? How do I fix this?

If it’s foggy on the inside, you have to take action on the inside or you’re in grave danger. You have to turn on the AC…turn up the temperature…and hit defrost. Blowing warm, air conditioned air onto the foggy windshield clears your view just as fast as it was taken.

Remembering to turn to God is like reaching for the knob on your dash. You have to take action. You have to DO something. You have to look for hope, ask for hope, pray for hope. 

It’s easy to lose hope in times like these. We wonder if this virus will ever go away. We wonder if the ugliness between people will ever get better. There IS good out there. There ARE many reasons to have hope for a brighter future. But, it’s not going to happen driving blindly down a freeway with a foggy windshield. 

We have to reach out and do something.

Take action.

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“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