Sometimes Hope can be an elusive thing. When the news from the doctor is bad. When someone we believed in betrays us. When someone we love leaves us. When the media is filled with SO MUCH BAD NEWS. In times like these, Hope can blow right away with the falling leaves. There have been times in my life when I found it near impossible to hold on to hope. Things looked so bad. Life had disappointed me so deeply. My prayers seemed so unanswered.

What can we do when hope seems lost?

During the times in my life that were the darkest and most full of despair, there was one thing that always helped me find Hope again. Someone came alongside me and hoped for me in my stead. When my prayers to get pregnant went unanswered, a friend believed for me that one day I would become a mom. When depression and anxiety hit, a therapist believed for me that some day I would feel better again. When my heart found the hymns at church hard to sing and the prayers hard to pray, my church family surrounded me with their voices lifted in song and prayer. Sometimes when we can’t believe in better days ourselves, what we need most is someone who know us and our struggles to believe it for us. Someone to come and wrap their arms around us and to hold us up with their own hopeful hearts. Like a broken finger wrapped to a whole one, when we are held by a loved one’s hope we can heal in a way that we can learn to hope again. My priest preached Sunday that Hope is found in community. I believe this with all my heart. When we are in community together we encourage each other and lift each other and even hold each other up when needed. If you are in a season where hope is hard to find, I pray that there is someone in your life who can come along side you and hold you up with their hope. And I pray that I may offer another arm to hold you up as well. A few years ago I wrote an advent devotional for people in need of Hope. If you are coming up on the holidays with hope proving hard to find, I offer it now to you. If you are looking for a path towards hope, these 37 Scriptures and personal reflections will hold you up with tales of how God’s light has shone into the dark places and brought hope again. We will remember how the people who walk in darkness are the one who see the great light and how the coming of our Savior allowed the weariest of worlds to rejoice again. If you are in a dark place these days, please remember you are not alone. You are loved more than you can imagine. You are believed in. And on our dark days may we all find a companion to come along side us and believe for us that the light will shine again.  ]]>