Faith and The God of All Hope

May the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

When I think of the phrase “the God of all hope”, my tension eases. Peace comes. My heart is at rest. There is something about remembering that He is the God of ALL hope that when my life struggles, I can still trust Him.

The hope He gives means I can trust Him when I feel like I am failing. His hope and assurance means I can keep walking when life tells me not too. I can run to Him when life seems overwhelming and know He will be there to show me the path of life.

Hope is the expectation that God’s faithful character is always there for us. In trying to describe His hope, I think of it as a life preserver, buoying me up during stormy days. The thing I have learned is to turn to Him when hopelessness tries to descend. Our natural mind would say “there is no hope”, the diagnosis is settled and been confirmed. When the doctors told me that Darryl was blind, deaf and basically gone after his heart attack and stroke, I was devastated. I knew Darryl had often preached, “You can’t see miracles unless you need miracles. Most people don’t want to be in a place to need them.” I kept praying for miracles. It took a while to see any.

My hope and trust were challenged severely. But I kept believing. All the previous tests of our faith came into play. I rehearsed God’s faithfulness and promises. The testimonies we already had. I needed to lean on every lesson He had taught us over the years. One of those lessons was this very verse. May the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13. NIV. The God of all hope began to show up.

The doctors release him to our home in Connecticut on hospice. They put people on hospice when the doctors think the person will pass within six months or less. They brought in a feeding machine and a hospital bed. I met with the hospice nurses and team. I know it was the God of hope that began to assemble the team that helped us through those first days. My friends, you don’t know how valuable those precious believers were during this season. They were God’s hope with flesh on. Please follow the Holy Spirit’s leading when others are going through difficult times.

Darryl was still, no movement, no noise. Nothing. He just lay in the bed while we attended to his needs. I kept expecting him to simply wake up–whole and ready to get back to my normal life. Two days after we had him home I noticed his feet were during grayish. I asked the nurse, and she said, “Oh that’s mottling, he will pass in the next 24 hours.” I just said to the Lord. “No, that can’t happen”. That night some friends gathered to worship and pray around his bed. I hadn’t shared about the mottling. Some time, during worship I moved his blanket and his toes were pink! The God of all hope had showed up and turned my hope into reality. It definitely was a time of celebration. The fellow who was supposed to come the next day to bathe him, told me “I kept expecting a phone call telling me not to come, that he had passed. He had never seen someone come back from mottling! A miracle for sure had happened.

My friends, my hope was that Darryl would totally recover and our old life would restart. That didn’t happen. But the God of all hope is still bringing me hope. For a year or so before Darryl’s health incident, he kept telling me about a big white house God was showing him. He said we are going to need to move. I kept saying, not until we use up this one to its capacity. The God of all hope was showing him, his new home, not ours. In the back of my mind, I wondered if that was what God was showing him. I didn’t want to even think about God taking him home without me. He left this earth October 5, 2012 to meet His Savior. My joy and peace is full as I think about him able to worship and praise the Lord freely.

I learned so much during the 2 1/2 years I was his caregiver, lessons of perseverance and trust. One main lesson I keep learning is that the God of all hope will always be there for us. Do not let the enemy steal your hope. When you are tempted to hopelessness, stand strong. Run back to your Savior. When I feel hopelessness and discouragement trying to come in, I try to look where the hole is. Most of the time for me, I seem to have some unmet expectation. I choose to declare my trust in Him. It is not long till the God of all hope shows up with His peace and joy, and I can feel the power of the Holy Spirit strengthening me.

Father, I thank you for reminding us today that you are the God of all hope. With your hope comes joy and peace, and I am so grateful. Please show us how to walk more consistently with this hope, in Jesus’ Name, amen.