even if we don't get what we hoped for...

The way I see it, there are 2 kinds of hope. We all have the kind of hope that our health will improve, a relationship will be restored, we'll find a job ... This is the hope that hangs on through tough circumstances & believes things will get better. When we lose our hope, our spirit suffers, & it's hard to navigate ourselves through a crisis. Despair is the opposite of hope.

If we are human, we have all known despair at one time or another. On Sunday, I was reminded of one of my favorite scriptures that says that all things work for good for those who love the Lord & are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).  I believe these powerful words, but what do they really mean?

The "rub" comes in defining good. We've all known faithful people that didn't get their miracle. They may have spent their whole life striving to be Christlike & still had tragedy befall them. I believe God's definition of good & the human definition of good have a huge gap. Our ways are not His ways, & our understanding is not His.

As I've said since I began blogging... only God has the whole picture. I don't. I think that changes everything. How can I (a human with an incomplete picture) even know what good is? I think back to years of parenting, & how we guided our children. We had the bigger picture & a more complete understanding. When our children were headed toward danger, our hearts were heavy, & we tried to guide them. They really couldn't see past the end of their own nose & their immediate desire.

As adults (in God's eyes), I think we are much like our children. Our desires are frequently to have peace, to have our stars aligned, to know that all will be okay. We can't bear certain losses, hurts, & trials (on our own). We want healing, & we are sure that is for our good. What we forget is that we aren't the only part of the picture. Our lives are intertwined with the lives of others so complexly that we can't even know how God uses us to impact another soul.

What if there is a trade-off for our trials? What if God uses my pain to impact another? What if another soul finds Christ because of how we handle our hardships? He has the whole picture, & He can bring good out of any situation, even those which seem bleak or horrific. That is His miracle. Though it's hard for me to see the good in some of the atrocities that occur in this life, I have to trust that God ultimately works everything for the good of those who love Him. Our hope must be eternally focused to even begin to "get" how some of the things which happen in life could work for good.

So the hope that one who follows Christ has is a greater hope than the earthly hopes we all have. This greater hope is a promise, a guarantee. It's the eternal hope of Heaven, & the hope that if we love Him, all things will work for good, even if we don't get what we hoped for, even if God's good does not seem good to us.