Hope Built

Last week, I began sharing the story of how my hope was built over years, not in a single moment.

Hope was all I had left when everything else crumbled.

If I said my faith never wavered or that I never doubted, I would be lying.

Being dishonest about faith does not make it stronger.

Doubt was a constant companion.

I doubted myself. I doubted my family and friends. I doubted justice. I even doubted whether God would rescue me.

Not whether He could, but whether He would.

And yet, hope remained.

A Marriage Healed

Last week’s episode ended with the healing of my marriage. If you haven’t listened to Part 1 of Episode 14, I encourage you to begin there.

Our marriage was healing. We had two wonderful children. We found a new home.

Life was moving forward.

Looking back, I can see how God was building something in us during those years.

Every experience of His faithfulness became part of a foundation. Every answered prayer, every moment of restoration, every reminder that He had not abandoned us.

We didn’t know what was coming.

We didn’t know how much we would need to remember those moments.

Hope had been growing throughout our lives, sometimes in ways we recognized and sometimes in ways we didn’t.

And when another season of wilderness came, we would find ourselves drawing on what God had already shown us.

The details of that season are in this week’s episode.

But the foundation matters because the suffering that followed did not create our hope.

It revealed what our hope was resting on.

Hope Does Not End Suffering

Suffering does not necessarily mean you have done something wrong.

It does not mean God is angry with you.

In the book of Job, we see a man whose suffering could not be explained by the accusations of those around him. His friends believed there must be a reason he deserved what had happened.

They were wrong.

We are not always given an explanation for suffering. And we should be careful about assuming we know why someone else is walking through it.

Having hope does not remove suffering.

It doesn’t guarantee that the pain will be easier to bear.

Hope doesn’t promise that everything will work out the way we want.

But hope gives us something to hold on to when everything else seems to be slipping away.

And even when we cannot hold on, God is still holding us.

There is a difference between hoping for something and having hope.

Hoping the suffering ends is not the same as having hope in the middle of it.

I hoped our circumstances would change. I hoped things would be restored. I hoped the questions would be answered.

Some things changed.

Others did not.

But my hope was never meant to rest on those answers.

An Ending Does Not Bring Resolution

This week’s episode brings our story to where we are today.

We have a new home in a new city. Since recording the episode, my wife has found a new job. Our circumstances are more stable than they were.

There is much to be thankful for.

But there is something I want to make clear.

We have reached an ending to this part of our story.

We do not have resolution.

There are still questions left unanswered. Things we may never understand. Things that may never be restored.

And I have learned that those two things can exist together.

I can be thankful for where we are without pretending that everything behind us has been made right.

I can recognize God’s faithfulness without claiming that every loss has been restored.

Hope does not depend on resolution.

It does not depend on restoration.

It does not depend on happiness or even joy.

Hope rests in Christ alone.

It doesn’t mean we have all the answers. Sometimes we have none.

It doesn’t mean everything has worked out or that everything eventually will.

It means that when everything around us is shaking, we are held by One who is not.

Not in our own strength.

In His.

His hands never tremble.

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First…

Listen to the podcast:

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Then…

Reflect on whether you are hoping for something or placing your hope in Christ?