Do you feel as though you are in a dungeon of despair? Maybe your marriage is in a mess. Maybe your children are out of control. Perhaps you feel as though you can’t cope any longer.

Let me tell you a secret, dear mother. There is a way out of the dungeon of despair! There is a door through which you can walk out! It is called the door of HOPE!

Hosea 2:15 says, "And I will give her the valley of Achor for a DOOR OF HOPE: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth."

Hope is a door that lets you out of your dungeon. While you look around at the mess you are in, your despair will engulf you. But look up. Believe me, there is a way out. You just have to turn the key of hope and you can walk out.

1 Peter 1:3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you."

We have been born again to experience a living hope – a life of hope! I read the story of a factory worker who shared that before he found Christ he wore his shoes out at the heals, but after he was born again, he wore them out at the toes! His life was tipped forward into expectancy.

What does this word ‘hope’ really mean?

Here is the full meaning of this Greek word – It is…

• An energizing principle

 

• A spontaneous overflowing spirit of optimism

 

• A looking ever on the bright side of things

 

• A looking forward to only that which is good

 

• Expecting continued blessing and joy

 

• Exuberant hopefulness, leaving us no room for worry

 

• Believing that God is going to do something good

 

• Confident expectation

 

How about that for a meaning?

Instead of groveling in your despair, start confessing out loud that God is a good God. Confess that He is going to do good things for you. Confess that He is going to do good things in your marriage, in your husband’s life, in your life, in your home and in each one of your children. Fill your home with confident, believing, joy-filled words.

Oh I know this is easier to say than do! But you must do it by faith, not because you feel like it. When you speak words of hope, they will open the door into a life of hope! And you will start to sing again!

Have a great week! Now come on… don’t stay there in your valley of despair. Open the door of hope. Speak out your trust in the Lord. Speak words of hope and things will change.

Your circumstances may not change, but you will change! And that’s the miracle.

My prayer for you is found in Romans 15:13, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

"Thank you, God, that you are the God of hope. Thank you that You have redeemed me from the kingdom of darkness into a life of hope. Renew a spirit of hope in me again today, Lord. Let it bubble up inside me and overflow from me. I thank you that You are a good God and You are working everything out in my life for Your highest purposes. I thank You that I can trust You. I believe You. I thank You for the good things you are doing in my life. I thank you for the good things You are doing in my husband’s life and in my children. I thank you that you are going to keep working in our lives until we see you face to face. Amen."

QUOTE:

"Though at times my spirit fails me,

And the bitter teardrops fall,

Though my lot is hard and lonely,

Yet I hope – I hope through all."