Hope Is Alive

There is hope for a tree, when it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and its shoots will not fail.

“I just don’t know if I can start over,” our friend Jim said early one Saturday morning. He sat in our living room, coffee in hand, slowly sobering up from drinking the night before.

I sat across from him on the couch next to my husband, Kyle, praying for wisdom and the words to speak love and truth to him.

“Don’t look at the whole of your life,” I began. “Just start with today. What healthy step can you take today?”

He shook his head and sighed as we discussed some things he could start with: stop drinking, get rid of the alcohol in his house, and eat a good meal. We continued to encourage him not to get overwhelmed by thinking about the future, but to focus only on what he could do differently on this day. Jim spent the day with us, and as the hours went on, his mood lifted. We played games, made dinner, and laughed together. And as we hugged and he went home for the night, I saw it. Just a glimmer, but hope had returned to his eyes. The day had been a clear reminder that something different is always possible.

Maybe you don’t struggle with alcohol like our friend Jim. Perhaps it’s something else you’ve grappled with or sought to overcome. Sometimes we get so set in unhealthy patterns that we feel helpless to change them. But Scripture constantly reminds us, in all kinds of ways, of the hope we can find through God. As when a tree is cut down, a shoot will surely sprout and grow again. That’s the very definition of hope. For a tree. For us.

Thankfully, even when we fail or feel that all is lost, hope comes along to remind us that today is a new day, that different choices are always available to us, and that God is there offering us his love and grace through it all. Hope is always alive.

Kendra

Today’s Act of Gratitude

What have you been discouraged about lately? Bring your situation to God, asking him for wisdom and the next right step to take, while also clinging to hope for the future. Thank him that he is with you each step of the way.