When Life Feels Hopeless

I remember when I was little and had very few things to worry about. There was always hope for a better day. It seems now, especially in the last few years, that many people have lost hope. Whether it is due to the economy, difficult family relationships, or threats of terrorism or violence, there are people who no longer have a positive outlook on life.

Life is full of ups and downs. While we do have some choice in how our life is going, there are often circumstances that arise over which we have no control. And when those circumstances happen, we can lose hope.

However, there are two things we can do to make life better and restore our hope. We can choose the attitude with which we will respond to these situations, and we can choose where we place our hope.

We will be let down when we place our hope in our circumstances. When we choose to make the best of our circumstances, we can find hope.

If we place our hope in other people, they will let us down, too. There is not one human on this planet that can save us or pull us out of hopeless situations and give us lasting peace.

God, through His Son Jesus, is the only valid source where we should place our hope.

Placing our hope in God will never let us down. Consider these verses from Lamentations:

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:  The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:21-24

I don’t have a three step process for placing your hope in God. But I can tell you that if you will commit to spending time with Him each day through reading the Bible and praying, He will reveal Himself to you and prove Himself trustworthy of your hope.

Also, I suggest starting a gratitude journal to help recall the blessings in your life. When we write out our blessings, it puts our whole life into perspective. Often things are not as bad as they seem.

Where do you place your hope?