LOOK FOR HOPE

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

It is always darkest before the dawn.

When the world says, "Give up," Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."

I particularly like this one…

Hope is putting faith to work when doubting would be easier...

Thank GOD for HOPE!

Hope can help turn what is seemingly the bleakest of circumstance into a blessing.  Hope is what drives us to try one more time, to seek the silver lining, to look beyond the impossible and to believe it CAN BE DONE!

For those of us in CHRIST, hope is a promise. 

Matthew 19:26 (ESV)

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men this is impossible, but all things are possible with God.

Last night we about 500 folks showed up at the Ervin J. Nutter Center on the campus of Wright State University for a night of HOPE as the DEA, CADCA and multiple others hosted “The Power of You”.  It was a NIGHT FILLED with HOPE!

Powerful stories of recovery. 

Over 40 of my partners in the recovery community joined me to create a circle of hopeful possibilities all around the arena!

We heard from speakers who had overcome their challenges to deliver messages of hope and possibilities.  One was a fella while working for the DEA on the front lines of this epidemic in Afghanistan lost his site after a bullet passed through his brain, but that wasn’t keeping him from being a world class bodybuilder and adventurist.

Another was a fella who had watched his dreams of the NHL deteriorate into a blur of homelessness and addiction only to rise again as a tri-athlete and the founder of Racing for Recovery a program that has helped thousands and their families find recovery!

It is GOOD to DAILY be reminded us of the amazing and transcendent power of HOPE.

With it nothing is out of our reach!

With it no circumstance can truly defeat us.

With it dark times can be bathed in light and trials turned to triumphs!

Thanks to it there is always a “future”!

Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

Proverbs 23:18 (ESV)

Sure, this message today is simple. 

Sure, it is on the heels of an amazing rally to “what can be” last night.

And sure, it is something that you have heard before from pundits

and preachers alike. 

But the message of HOPE is the critical fuel that carries us through the challenges of life and the faith-dry fields of adversity and anguish. 

And friends we are BLESSED to have an endless and eternal supply of it! As the cliché says, it does indeed spring eternal!

“hope will not be cut off”.

I didn’t even mention the amazing hope shared from the mouth of one who was lost in darkness and now has found her voice of hope in art or the amazing work being done on college campuses by my new friend Sarah.

Hope IS abounding all around us! Grab it!

So, to help, I leave you with this FAMILIAR scripture to the OFH today! 

Romans 15:13 (ESV)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit YOU MAY abound in hope.

For:

Hope is passion for what is possible. - Soren Kierkegaard

I pray it for you! 

I love you all!

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE