"Hopefulness can be a struggle when our prayers are heavy and we have carried them for a long time. How will you build up your faith to again believe your prayers will be answered?" Kathy Spampinato

The Holiday Season is upon us in December, and it brings it's own atmosphere and sense of wonder. It is not only the children that look at the lights and sparkles with anticipation. The Season is accompanied by joyful music and thoughts of love and giving. We invite hopefulness for family times that bond us together, fostering understanding and devotion. We just know that everyone will have grace for each other, and our get-togethers will be filled with tender feelings and lots of festive decorations and cookies. Our hearts are hopeful that this time, we'll all get along. The carols declaring "Peace on Earth and Good Will to Men" inspire the belief that this is the year when our hopes and dreams will come true.

I love the Christmas message and it's music! You cannot help but sing along to the standards and join in the spirit of celebration that is pervasive. Emmanuel: God is with us! His heart is towards us, and He is present for us! He is mighty to save. There is so much to rejoice in, and yet, despite the joy of the season and all the reasons to anticipate hope, there is also the spirit of heaviness that tries to descend and dampen our enthusiasm at Christmas. We might have very good reasons for feeling that heaviness this year. We could be facing the end of life for a loved one, a serious battle for our own health, financial crisis that could take our home, or loved ones caught in the trap of addiction. Hopefulness can be a struggle when our prayers are heavy and we have carried them for a long time. The Bible describes it like this:

Proverbs 13:`12, 14- 15 "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death. Good sense wins favor, but the way of the treacherous is their ruin."

You may have a loved one who has accepted the way of treachery as theirs. They see no way out. There is a path to turn away from the snares but they do not see it. The teaching of the wise seems foreign and untenable for them. Your prayers for them have poured out of your heart but you wonder if there will ever be a change. Your hope has been deferred over and over again, until it is wearing thin. How will you persevere and keep believing that God will move in their life? How will you build up your faith to again believe your prayers will be answered?

Another situation that challenges our hope, occurs when we feel like God has made a promise to us. We are believing for the fulfillment of our dream: whether for a new job, a baby, or a ministry that we know internally, God has for us. How far in the future does this dream lead us? When are we going to see the fulfillment of all we've hoped for?

The Bible is a book full of hope, and our faith will lead us through difficult times.

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."

Psalm 31:24 " Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord."

We are reminded to be strong and persevere. There is a joy and peace in believing because we know that God is faithful. What He promises He will do. We do not live by the circumstances that we see, but by our faith in the one we know is faithful. We believe despite the evidence to the contrary. God is powerful, and He is love. He is the God of the impossible.

Galatians 6: 8-9 "For the one who sows to his flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up."

I want to encourage you to have faith and believe in the impossible. Take courage and wait for the Lord. Hope deferred does make your heart sick, but when your prayer is answered, a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. Your hope will abound when it rests in the God who redeems. He has not given up on you or your prayers. He is working! You can wait in hope and believe because He is faithful now and always!