We are in the midst of a crisis the likes of which we’ve never seen. You all know this.
In the middle of a crisis of this magnitude, we all need so many things. We have actual physical needs that have to be met. We need health and protection. We need jobs and money coming in. We need food on our table and our rent to be paid.
Outside of our physical needs, there are intrinsic, down-deep-in-the-soul things we need too. We need peace. We need to know everything is going to be okay on the other side of this.
One of the biggest things we all need is hope.
Hope is your life blood in the midst of crisis. It’s that thing that you hold on to when all else seems lost.
It is the belief that tomorrow can be better. It’s knowing we will get through this. It’s trusting that there are better days ahead. The rain will stop. The sun will come out. Life, although different, will once again spring forth.
Hope is one of the only things that will sustain us through this time.
Right now, what we all need is more hope. Not more numbers. Not more bad reports. Not more media briefings telling us how terrible things are.
And so today I want to implore you to find hope. Ask God to show you the hope He has for you. He is the God of hope. Remember Jeremiah 29:11:
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
If you have to, sit with that verse for a while. He has plans for you. Not plans for harm, but plans that will give you what we need most right now … hope.
Grab on to hope. Don’t let go.
And then, when you have gotten enough hope for yourself, start to let it overflow out of you to others. They need the hope that you have.
Like a drug dealer gets people hooked on their stuff, get people hooked on the hope that you have.
Become a “hope dealer”.