Establish Hope and Faith During Life Challenging Situations
We will all be presented with many challenges in life. These may even turn into complete seasons, similar to summer, winter, spring and fall. It could be a season of transition or a season of health issues. Maybe you are having a season of doubt, fear and discouragement. In all of these seasons part of the antidote appears to be Hope and Faith. These two attributes could not be further from our reach in times of despair. How can we find them? Where do we turn?
The terms faith and hope are defined in the dictionary as follows; Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing or a belief not based on proof. Hope is an optimistic attitude of mind based on an expectation or desire. Faith says it is so now, and hope says in the future it could happen.
Based on these definitions, faith is the result of current belief systems brought about by life experience, whereas hope is the result of desiring a future state of affairs. And while the two are interwoven, what is the best expression of the relationship between faith and hope?
One cannot have hope without faith. “Hope” is commonly used to mean a wish : its strength is based on the strength of the person’s desire. But in the Bible hope is the confident expectation of what God has promised and its strength is in His faithfulness. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” Hebrews 11: 1.
My challenge to all of us is to look within our hearts and find room to extend kindness to each other. The human spirit is a strong and willful force. We all have it within us to be kind and generous. Coupling these attributes with hope and faith, we could make a remarkable and everlasting change to our today and the tomorrows to come. This would help us walk through the seasons we face with the confidence that we are not alone and we are supported.
May you walk forward in kindness, fueled by hope, faith & love! Make it a great day.