I’d like to tell you a story.  A story about hope.

Last month, during Thanksgiving week, I went through some pretty dark days.  I had just re-injured my hip for what was probably the 3rd or 4th time over the past couple years.  I’ve been through the injury before and knew that my Lyme/mold issues were probably the culprit.  And like the last couple times it’s happened, I knew I would eventually get back to walking and moving more normally again.  But this time more than ever, it pushed me over the edge. 

After a series of unfortunate life and health events since 2015, it just felt like one hardship too many.  My dreams of a healthy life and a future family seemed impossible, my prayers and cries to God seemed forgotten, my feelings seemed misunderstood by others, and my strength and courage seemed buried in anxiety and weariness.  I felt utterly hopeless.

And then, the very next day, I heard one of my favorite Christmas carols on the radio.  It’s one that my dad used to sing each year on Christmas Eve in the church I grew up in, so it’s always had a special place in my heart.  And as “O Holy Night” softly played through the speakers, I was struck by a line in the lyrics that I’d never paid much attention to before.  “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.  For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.”  

A thrill of hope?!  The weary world rejoicing?!  Can I get in on that?!  It was as if God whispered, “Yes, Joanna.  This is what real Hope is.”   And just then, I realized that I hadn’t lost my hope at all.  I had misplaced it. When our hope is in our circumstances, in our own plans and desires, in other people, or in our own strength, it’s never going to withstand the storms of life.  I had traded the glorious thrill of Jesus, my ultimate Hope, for a conditional, weak version of earthly hope.  It’s like choosing the wrapped, tangible gift under the Christmas tree that will eventually wear out instead of accepting the priceless, unseen gift of salvation in Christ that lasts forever.

Oh, how easy it is to misplace our hope in this life and want to give up!  I’m sure many of you can relate.  Just when you think you’re reaching the end of one hard situation, another one comes crashing down on top of it.  Maybe your job has been heavy with stress and anxiety.  You’re feeling crushed by grief after losing a loved one.  Perhaps you’re overwhelmed with raising a family and making ends meet.  Or enduring pain and suffering in a body weakened by health trials.  Maybe nothing is really going wrong in your life, but you feel an emptiness and a longing for something more.

No matter your struggles or how hopeless you feel, I have good news for you.  Our Hope has come and is with us through it all.  And this Hope is woven throughout God’s word and powerfully displayed for us to hold on to.  A Hope that defies the impossible.  A Hope that comforts the forgotten.  A Hope that renews our strength.  This Christmas, even if nothing else in our lives is going right, we can still receive a thrill of Hope for our weary hearts and rejoice like the angels did on that holy night in Bethlehem.

Hope that Defies the Impossible

¹⁸ Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”
¹⁹ And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb.
²⁰ Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.  ²¹ He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. ²² And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. 
~Romans 4:18-22 NLT

On the day when I felt I had lost my hope, I was overcome with grief that my situation was just too difficult, or even impossible, for it to turn out well.  And that same day, I happened to open my Bible to this story of Abraham – a man who was also in an impossible situation and had every reason to give up hope, but didn’t. 

Another translation of the above passage stated that Abraham “hoped against all hope.”  (I love that expression, don’t you?)  Even though his wife, Sarah, was far past pregnancy age and Abraham himself was old and gray, he hoped and trusted in the Lord.  And God did the impossible.  Sarah had a son, making Abraham the father of nations and the beginning of the lineage of descendants to Jesus Christ.

Speaking of Jesus, I think it was not a coincidence that God prepared the way for His own Son to enter the world through another impossible situation.  This time, it was a young virgin Mary and her elderly relative, Elizabeth, who saw their hope in God defy the impossible…

³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”^[d]
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born^[e] will be called holy—the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.”
~Luke 1:30-37 ESV

I don’t know about you, but when I read about this account, with not just one miracle, but two, my hope soars.  Elizabeth, much like Sarah, was too old to have children.  Yet, she did not give up hope in God because of it.  And God blessed her through a miracle baby – John the Baptist.  Mary, an ordinary young girl, probably never dreamed she would be part of an extraordinary plan.  But she found favor with God for her faith and trust in Him.  And God blessed her through a miracle baby – Jesus Christ, Immanuel.

So, when you’re in what feels like an impossible situation, don’t give up! Remember Abraham and Sarah and hope against all hope.  Remember Elizabeth and Mary and that nothing is impossible with God.  And remember that God will also take care of you and write your own story in a way that is even better than anything you can imagine.

Hope that Comforts the Forgotten

¹⁰ My life is consumed by anguish
    and my years by groaning;
my strength fails because of my affliction,^[b]
    and my bones grow weak.
¹¹ Because of all my enemies,
    I am the utter contempt of my neighbors
and an object of dread to my closest friends—
    those who see me on the street flee from me.
¹² I am forgotten as though I were dead;
    I have become like broken pottery….
²² …In my alarm I said,
    “I am cut off from your sight!”
Yet you heard my cry for mercy
    when I called to you for help.
 ²³ Love the Lord, all his faithful people!
    The Lord preserves those who are true to him,
    but the proud he pays back in full.
²⁴ Be strong and take heart,
    all you who hope in the Lord.
~Psalm 31:10-12, 22-24 NIV

So often, when we go through difficult times in our lives, it’s easy to feel alone, isolated, and forgotten, by friends or family or even God.  Over the past couple years of my health struggles, I have cried out to God more times than I can count.  And since I haven’t seen progress, it’s felt like God stopped listening.  Maybe you, too, have felt left out or abandoned.  Maybe you think God answers everyone else’s prayers, but never yours.   In these times when we feel forgotten, it’s easy to misplace our hope.

Fortunately, a young shepherd named David had similar feelings and wrote them down in the book of Psalms.  David was the youngest in his family and was likely the overlooked outcast, alone among his sheep.  And while God would one day make him a great king, David had plenty of troubles along the way.

Time and time again, David lamented over his troubles.  He cried out in anguish, wondering if God was still listening.  Yet he always found comfort in putting his hope in the Lord.  And God saw David as a “man after His own heart” and blessed him as king. (Acts 22:13)  David wasn’t forgotten, he was chosen.  Chosen as the king of Israel and the continuation of Abraham’s line that would lead to the King of Kings.

And it just so happens that the birth of the King of Kings was first revealed to shepherds who, like David, may have felt forgotten or overlooked by others, or even by God.  

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
~Luke 2:8-20 NIV

Isn’t it amazing that God chose simple shepherds to reveal the greatest news of all time?  They weren’t forgotten, they were chosen.  God brought them comfort and joy through the birth of Christ.  And they were the first to spread this good news to a weary world.  What an incredible encounter!  One that reminds us that we also aren’t forgotten, but chosen.  And like the shepherds, we can receive this same comfort and joy through our hope in Jesus.

Hope that Renews Our Strength

²⁸ Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
³¹ but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.
~Isaiah 40:28-31 NIV

One of the first things to go when we lack hope is strength.  Everything in life feels like too much.  We can’t possibly carry anything else on our plates.  Will we even make it through today?  Well, according to this passage, the answer is yes!  But not because of any strength of our own.

God is reminding Israel (and us) that He will never grow tired and weary.  That by putting our hope in Him, our strength will be renewed.  And not only will we slog through another day, we will soar on eagles’ wings!  It doesn’t mean our pain is gone or that all of our problems disappear, but it does mean that God will carry us through them and we don’t need to rely on our own strength anymore.

And the same God who spoke those words of hope in Isaiah to the weary nation of Israel came down to our weary world to be our hope in the flesh.  What a holy, divine night that must have been…

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining, 
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth. 
Long lay the world in sin and error pining. 
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. 
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, 
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. 
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices! 
O night divine, the night when Christ was born; 
O night, O holy night, O night divine! 
O night, O holy night, O night divine! 

This Christmas, let’s make this divine story of hope part of our story.  If you haven’t yet asked Jesus to be your Savior, what better time than now?  He alone breathes new life to our impossible circumstances, new comfort into our lonely, forgotten days, and new strength into our weary bodies.  

This Christmas, let’s fall on our knees and rejoice over “a new and glorious morn” that has come through the birth of Jesus.  And then, let’s stay on our knees and rejoice over “a new and glorious morn” that WILL come when Jesus returns again to make all things new.

This Christmas, let’s not put our hope in wrapped presents or holiday parties or even our families.  Instead, let’s put our hope in the greatest Gift of all:  Jesus, the Wonderful Counselor for our fragile minds.  Jesus, the Almighty God for our broken bodies.  Jesus, the Everlasting Father for our fractured relationships.  Jesus, the Prince of Peace for our stressful lives.  Jesus, a thrill of Hope for our weary hearts.

Praying that we all will experience a thrilling, lasting hope in Jesus this holiday season and beyond.  Merry Christmas!