Power of Hope: What is hope?

Perhaps you're in a dark, scary place in your life. 

Nothing is going right and everything seems to be falling apart. 

Life is chucking everything at you at once and you're being to feel defeated.

Maybe it feels like you're being tossed around in this tornado of a life.

Maybe it feels like the floor of life has dropped out from underneath your feet and you feel as if you're free falling and at any moment the thud will come.

Just hang on...

...there's still hope.

We were promised this.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, "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."

What is hope exactly?

First, let's see what the dictionary says about hope:

(noun) a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen; 

a feeling of trust; 

(verb) want something to happen or be the case.

I believe that hope is eternal. We always hope for better things than what we have or for the things we want. In a way, hope is faith for the future. 

When things are going crazy in our lives, sickness hits home, or a disaster hits our country, we hope that things will get better and our future will be brighter. Hope is something that we search for, something that is desired, a fullfilled promise of something good.

If you think about it, hope is something much deeper. I believe that hope cosides with faith. Without faith, hope is nonexistant. When we have hope, we are expecting that what we believe and are waiting for will happen, as Christians this is in God's perfect timing.

In a world of so much chaose and negivaity toward God, we need to be careful that we don't allow ourselvs to slide into the turmoil. The belief in God gives us hope that there will be better things to come.

Therefore, I ask you, Reader...

How do you define hope?