hope

Dear Candice,
if I were to say "hope" what is the very first thing that comes to your head? Think about it for a second.
I, personally, generally associate the word "hope" with some sort of happy feeling. Hope is usually characterized by some sort of anticipation or expectation.
If I were to say, "I have hope," what does that mean? Does it mean that I'm looking forward to something long awaited for? Does it mean that I'm wishing for something unusual or remarkable? Does it even mean that I've been faced with challenging situations that have left me with an open mind for the future?
Sure, it could mean these things, but I feel that there's something deeper to this concept of hope than what we generally define it as.
I believe that hope is more than wishing for something. Hope is more than a mind set or choice to live a happy life. Hope is so much more than those things.
I believe that hope is having confidence that experience, whether it's a merciless trial or celebrated triumph, will yield a beneficial result.
To put it simpler, hope is knowing for sure that good will come out of bad.
As I sit here trying to come up with some sort of explanation of what hope is and how to have hope, I realize that I can't tell you what hope looks like or what it feels like. All I can tell you to do is put your hope in God.
Keep your confidence in Him and Him alone.
I could keep going on for days about what the Bible says about hope. I could write a thousand letters about what to have hope in.
But that's not going to do much.
I just want to leave you with this.
"For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it." -romans 8:24-25
Hope is hope.
And real hope is in the Father alone.
Have hope.
I love you.
Love,
Sara