There's always Hope

"Be strong and take heart, 

all you who hope in the Lord."

Psalm 31:24

Amazing Boy played in the championship game in Little League today.  We lost by one run.  But it was a great game.  And of course, it was great to have gotten to that point at all.   Only two teams get to play for the trophy!

But what was even better than a great game, was how great my boy did.  Good pitching, good batting, good fielding.  The comparison between this year and this time last year, is substantial.  He's quite a bit improved.  Last year, I never knew what was going to happen when he came up to bat.  He might get a hit, but there was a bigger chance he wouldn't.  And you know what his problem was last year?  Confidence.  He didn't have much.  And it's sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy.  The lower your confidence in your ability, the more trouble you're going to have.

This year is different, though.  I don't know which came first, but he is much more confident, and he gets many more hits.  And every time he came up to bat this season, I knew there was a good chance of something great happening.   He knew it, too.

Have you ever been to a gathering where they were doing a raffle?  You know that feeling when they are reading off the numbers, and you're excitedly holding your ticket, knowing it might be you?   Years ago, I went to a function where they were raffling off several items, but I had forgotten to put my name in the basket when I came in.  So when the time came to pull the tickets, I knew I didn't have a chance.  None.  It was, literally, a hopeless feeling.

Hope is the difference.  Hope changes your outlook.  Hope is possibility... optimism... promise.

But Hope can be even better than all that.   Because Hope in anything on earth is the promise that it might come to be.  But Hope in the Lord ~ is certainty.  When the word "hope" is used in the Bible, it is not used in the sense of "wish" or "desire," as when we say, "I hope she comes on time."   Hope, in Scripture is undeniable and indisputable.    Isaiah 49:23 says, "I am the Lord; those who hope in Me will not be disappointed."  How's that for a promise?

On difficult days or during difficult chapters in our lives; when we're walking a path that has been hard for so long that we can't even see the beginning anymore, much less the end...  Hope is the difference.  It's energy, fuel, and a reason to keep on keepin' on.   It's confidence.... expectancy... trust.... belief.  

Do you have it?

~ "Always be prepared to give an answer 

to everyone who asks you to give the reason 

for the hope that you have within you." ~

1 Peter 3:15