You don't have to be your own hope.
To the mama pregnant with her third child who thinks she will never sleep again.
To the young adult overwhelmed by life's meaning and purpose searching for an answer.
To the mom who just received devastating news about her child.
To the daughter who is sitting in the midst of her mother's illness.
To the wife who stays committed though she feels the battles may never dissipate.
To the mom whose son was diagnosed with a list of DSM-IV challenges
To the woman who just desperately wants a friend.
To the girl who uses all of her mental energy just to get through the day.
To the student swimming in debt that keeps her awake at night.
To the one who just wants the pressure of life to ease up for a hot minute so she can take a breath.
The world says, "You've got this."
The world says, "You can do it."
The world says, "You hold the power."
The world says, "Try harder," "Do more," "Be more,"
The world says belief in yourself as the agent of change is the key to hope.
The cross says, lay your burdens here and I will BE your hope.
The Bible says, perseverance through adversity delivers hope.
Jesus says, I AM hope.
So hold on, dear one. Don't give up. Persevere. Just get out of bed and choose that today you will put one foot in front of the other. And then at the end of the day celebrate that today you chose to persevere. Perseverance doesn't have a measuring stick or a report card. Perseverance just keeps moving forward. There is grace for the days when you are self-sufficient and forget your need for Jesus and there is just as much grace for the days when you only took one wobbly step. CELEBRATE the perseverance. Celebrate that you chose to stay the course - AGAIN - then do it again tomorrow, and the day after that. That is perseverance.
We need to start celebrating the perseverance of others and not just the final destinations. We need to give ourselves enough grace to celebrate our hard days that are marked by perseverance instead of counting them as a day of survival. Survival is perseverance and perseverance is a win.
Having hope, producing hope, finding hope is not your job. Your job is to take all of the emotion, the to-dos and lists, all of the budgets and agendas, all of the schedules and tasks, all of the counseling and appointments, all of the commentary and diagnosis and lay them at Jesus feet. Adversity fosters hope, but Jesus is the author of hope and He will produce it in you if you just choose to show up today. Rest assured, He can be trusted.