photo source: patheos/blogs/jeffandalyssa

This topic was submitted by fellow inspirational blogger Rejoicing in Hope (RIH) –if you need a pick me up or a dose of encouragement and hope or if you have questions about God and his existence or maybe you want to know, if he loves you, trust me, you’ll find what you need and those answers or her page. She’s amazing and so is her blog – she also talks about other things in which I think you’ll find interesting, so check her out! 

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The dictionary says that HOPE:

Is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best. It’s the expectation of something good…

When life gets a little out of control and seems to be throwing everything but the kitchen sink at us however; depending on the day or event – it’s known to have a tendency to reach back and throw that forgotten sink at us too – as an added bonus to hardship, so, thanks Life!

During life’s temper tantrum of events, it’s hard to bring your mind together to even think about the word “HOPE” in the midst of a burning trial. While our world may look like total darkness facing a trial; when I begin to think of such songs as “trouble don’t last always” suddenly, hope comes into view as a small twinkling light at the end of a tunnel – a light that reminds us that no matter how bad/crazy or outlandish things become, you know that everything will be alright despite the current circumstance.

About 2yrs ago almost, I found myself in a “fiery” trial – not that I haven’t had trials, tribulations or a couple of trip and falls since, but it just seemed like that year (2016) – everything was out to get me…literally. I found myself in a relationship that wasn’t going anywhere and I didn’t know how to communicate that to the individual (shameless plug, you can read more about that in this Sunday’s post – Why does the right thing, Feel like the wrong thing), I lost a friendship unexpectedly, the “dream house” that I thought I was going to live in for quite some time, ended up going into foreclosure, my mom fell extremely ill, my car got repossessed and a job that I was so excited to take and make a difference on, ended up feeling like a job assignment from hell and on top of that, I became so stressed out about it – that by Christmas that year, all my hair fell out which lead me to wearing wigs for over a year!!

As I write those things out, it amazes me that I had the strength to go through it all, BUT GOD! That was a seriously hard time for me, I remember crying on my way to work – crying at work and crying leaving work; I talked to God constantly and to be honest – not to ask him “WHY ME?” but I knew that through all of that pain and heartache that something amazing was about to happen because as the cliché says “There’s no rainbow, without a Storm.” I didn’t see it, I didn’t know how it was going to come about, but I knew that God was working on my rainbow and was perfecting those colors just for me.

You see?, I had HOPE and I knew within my heart of hearts that God was cooking up something good, but there were times my patience got the best of me and I wondered, if God had forgot about me. I know the Bible says that God won’t put no more on us than we can bear, so I knew that everything I was going through was God letting me know that I could bear the burden and that he wouldn’t add any more to my already full plate, especially if he knew it was going to cause me to fail. God doesn’t put us through trials to fail, he puts us through them because he knows that we have what it takes on the inside of us to succeed. He already knew that I would come out smelling like a rose, he knew that I wouldn’t fail but that I would pass the test. IF we keep our prayers up, faith fresh and our eyes on God, we’ll soon begin to see that HOPE light, getting bigger and brighter and God’s hands opening wider and wider. Because I had HOPE, the former things that I was troubled with above began to work out like this:

The Hope for that Relationship: After much fasting and praying, he brought me out of it without any harm or danger. Now, I’m single and NO!, I’m not ready to mingle (lol).. but free and just enjoying my growing relationship with God and working on fulfilling my season of singleness so I won’t leave any stone unturned, before God sends me a mate for marriage. I’m working on becoming a whole person to match another whole person (no 50/50 here) he’s gonna have to be WHOLE! (interpretation: fully complete)

The Hope for that Lost House: He blessed me with a nice place, that’s not too big and not too small but just right and I don’t have to worry about my hard earned money going into the wrong person’s pocket.

The Hope for that Repossessed Car:  I was turned down by 8 different creditors whom all said NO! Because of my repossession, but man’s extremity is just an opportunity for God to work. After giving up and following a lead from my mom to try one more place……I got the three letter word that I gave up on hearing a “YES!” – I now drive a car newer and better car than the one I had before “Won’t he Do It!!”

The Hope for that Severed Friendship: I was on my knees praying one morning and I asked God, “Lord, remove everyone from my life, that’s not supposed to be in it” Well, I didn’t think it would be my friend – as I thought we’d be together forever. It wasn’t until after she exited my life that I began to see her true character and realized, we were never a match in friendship heaven, as a matter of fact, we were totally opposite of one another.  All I can say is THANK YOU JESUS! Besides, the friends I have now are very intentional and God chosen.

The Hope in that Stressful Job:  It’s amazing how you can work somewhere and people treat you bad or say all types of negative things behind your back when you’re going out of your way to be nice and spread positivity, in which isn’t received by everyone. While you can’t change what they think or say about you,  I continued being the “positive” person I always was – someone obviously, they were too blind to see. Since then, God has blessed me to a better job, better environment, it’s stress free, my positive nature is greatly received and I’m my own boss of my domain – so how about that…

The Hope for my Beloved Mother: Well, that story doesn’t end on a positive note. While her health was up and down and unpredictable, God decided that she had suffered enough and took her peacefully from us. My mother used to always say “If God doesn’t heal me, then I’d rather go home to be with him” and in 2016 her prayer was answered. It saddens me, but the hope I had in that is, I know my mom is well and full of unspeakable joy – earth kept her in pain, heaven has made her free.

So you see my friends, although trials and tribulations come and they will; don’t count out HOPE!! If you lose your hope, you lose your focus and if you lose your focus, you lose your will. We need HOPE, it’s the one thing that makes us push pass the pain when we want to give up, it’s the one thing that keeps us looking up instead of down and gives us a major boost when darkness seems to suffocate us. As long as you allow yourself to see that glimmer of light (as small as it may be) – there’s always a chance, there’s always HOPE.

 

I want to give a Special Shout Out to Rejoicing in Hope for this topic! I really appreciate you, thanks for following, reading, commenting and just being AWESOME! 

 

If you would like to see what next week’s topic will be, tune in next Tuesday between the hours of 2:30pm and 3:00pm on the Justsuminspiration FB page – I may just go live or post a video of me pulling the next topic – just like I did this one!

Roshonda N. Blackmon – Creator of A Blog, A Magazine. It’s JustsumInspiration, Author, Speaker & Encourager