Reflections On Hope

I went to young adult conference in Vancouver, Washington with our youth group this weekend and had an amazing time. The theme of it was hope, reflections on which I jotted down on the trip home and will now share with you:

"Hope. We hear about it so much these days because of various tragedies and natural disasters, because the people affected are in need of hope (the question is, aren't we all?). But the concept of hope was in place before any natural disasters or tragedies ever occurred. That's because God is a God of hope and He has always been in existence--before time began, before our world was created. Real hope remains standing, no matter what comes its way. Hope is irreplaceable. It can't be manufactured or duplicated. The world can't give you anything like it.

Hope is the firm belief that God has something better for you, better than what you are experiencing now and what you have experienced in your past. Sometimes you have an idea of what that is and sometimes you don't. Hope in God is beautiful, because it cannot be broken. It's the breeding ground for faith. There is no such thing as negative hope. Wanting something bad to happen to/for someone else is hate and hate is the same as murder (says God, don't shoot the messenger).

We should have hope all the time, not only when bad things happen. Instead of only hoping for something better than disaster, we should hope for something better than average. Normality is not the goal when it comes to true hope; God's best for our lives is the goal. Hope doesn't settle for second best--it looks above and beyond to the craziest, best possible thing that could happen to you.

Hopes and dreams are in the same family, but they are not the same. Hope is in what God says in His Word that you can have (a blessed and prosperous family, marriage, finances, ministry, etc). Dreams are the specific hopes that God gives to you (like the kind of person you will marry, the kind of ministry you desire, etc). (And I say "etc" because you should never limit God; the amazing things He wants for you and has planned for you are endless.) Both dreams and hopes are God-given just the same and both go beyond what you see in the now.

Hope is something you should never trade away. You shouldn't want to try to replace it. But you should give hope away, because the God of hope always has more to fill you with. When you have hope, you will never feel unsatisfied or empty. Walking through life without hope will make you miserable and depressed. You need to have something to look forward to."

And that's it. Sorry it's a bit random, my thoughts aren't terribly organized (as you have already realized). I understand if you don't agree with what I have said, but these are my beliefs and nothing will change them.