Don’t Lose Hope

This hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Romans 5:5

I love sweets, as if you haven’t noticed already. But one childhood incident involving something sweet left a bitter taste in my mouth for a while. The fact that I can vividly remember it as an adult shows how much it affected me then!

I really loved being part of the junior-high choir at our church, and one of my favorite parts of choir practice was the sweet snacks afterward in the church fellowship hall. One particular late afternoon, we were served cupcakes that a choir mom had made. I scraped all the icing off my cupcake so I could savor that huge chunk of chocolate icing last! It was lying on the side of my paper plate when suddenly, the girl sitting beside me grabbed the hunk of chocolate icing right off my plate and stuck it in her mouth! To add insult to injury, the culprit was the preacher’s daughter!

Well, I was shocked, mad, and devastated. And to make it worse, there weren’t any leftover cupcakes to console me.

So many years later, I find myself getting that same feeling of disappointment at those times when something doesn’t turn out the way I expected—my way! I feel like someone stole the icing off my cupcake and there is no hope of getting it back! When I start thinking that way, I talk with God about it because He cares about everything we care about! That’s how much He loves us. He will use each letdown to remind us that He never fails us or disappoints us. He is our real hope.

Eat a sweet cupcake or other treat today, knowing that your hope in Christ is far sweeter!