Hope.

Hopeless.

Hopelessness.

I’m having a hard time trying to recall a season or moment in my life in which I felt a real sense of hopelessness. A time when my circumstances left me feeling isolated from the presence of God.

Wow.

What does that say about my life?

Maybe at first thought it sounds like my life has been “easy”? Like I haven’t been challenged, tempted, or knocked down.

But that’s not true.

I have often felt distance from God.

Walking towards a sin that I’ve walked to before…

Losing someone I barely knew but hoped for so badly…

Watching friends and family face illness—mental and physical…

Waiting (impatiently) for the things my heart cries for…

In these places, I don’t feel God’s presence like a large wave washing over me.

(Not even like a normal sized wave.)

—————

A long time ago, Love came down in the form of a tiny baby.

Hope came with Him.

So I must trust, I have to hope, how else do I move forward…

I have to believe that He is there.

I have to trust that behind me,

where I am choosing not to look…

there is a small gust,

through a tiny crack,

where God’s love is pushing through.

Even in my “hopelessness”, when I feel distant from God, I have chosen to follow a Saviour, who came as a baby, bearing the gift of hope for this world.

For me.  

Because of Jesus I am never far from hope.

—Nikki Fast

Advent Series

Week #1

The Coming of Hope…for the Weary of Waiting