Focus Friday: Let's Focus on Hope

By now, you probably realize that this blog comes from whatever I'm dealing with each week. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Yesterday I was dealing with some ugly stuff again. I didn't want to get out of bed in the morning and I kind of moped through my day. Several times I had the thought "This is hopeless." I don't feel as bad as I did, but I don't feel as good as I'd like, either. I looked around at all that I could and should be doing and had trouble deciding just what to do. So I did a whole lot of nothing.

That's not a good way to spend the day, my friends. A little before supper I decided to do my devotions from "Jesus Calling." I read the devotional for the day and looked up the verses and was amazed to once again have God meet me right where I'm at and remind me of things I'd forgotten.

Here's what I read:

I immediately felt so much better. Of course things are not hopeless because I have God. A God of hope! As a Christian I need to cling desperately to that hope and let it fill me with joy and peace.

Now, that being said, there are times when we can't find hope. Sometimes depression causes chemical changes in our brains and it's almost impossible to find any hope. That's when we need to reach out for help. Medications and good counseling can get us back to a more stable emotional condition where we can find hope again and that hope will get us back to a place where we can feel joy and peace instead of sadness, anxiety, and despair.

If we're just having a bad day we can remind ourselves of the hope we have in God. Hope makes all the difference when we're going through a hard time. We don't muster it up on our own. We need to let the power of the Holy Spirit give us that hope so that it can overflow and encourage everyone around us.

Do you ever lose hope? How can focusing on hope help us to get through difficult times?