Sometimes finding and hanging onto hope throughout the holidays is a daunting task, especially in the face of lingering doubt.

I feel it strong this season. A kind of doubt that snuffs out hope as soon as the prayers leave my lips. And my heart is weary of crying out for God to move.

This mountain grows with every word uttered toward the heavens. The faith that stands warrior-strong today yields to questions and doubts as tomorrow dawns.

Is God really listening?

Does He hear my heart cry?

Why can’t I hear Him in the midst of all this silence?

When will this mountain give way?

I wonder if all this hope I’m supposed to grab hold of is meant for someone else. If I’ve somehow missed out on the secret. If I’ll forever be swimming upstream, and if faith is some empty formula or calculation where y+x always = 0.

I’m sure you know the feeling. When you’ve been praying so long it seeps from your pores. You feel it deeply. And you know this mountain doesn’t belong.

Yet, to entertain doubt for too long crushes hope in a way that’s too hard to bear.

To entertain doubt for too long crushes hope in a way that's too hard to bear. Share on X

So we spill out our tears and lob our questions to the heavens until we’re empty to the core.

We surrender our doubt because we know the price of keeping it close.

And we choose the way of faith…the way of hope.

“True faith means holding nothing back. It means putting every hope in God’s fidelity to His Promises.” -Francis Chan

We choose to unwrap hope new and let it sparkle fresh in our soul. To invite its cleansing. To embrace its healing.

We must choose to unwrap hope new each day and let it sparkle fresh in our soul. Share on X

And we let hope’s promises trickle into the cracks of doubt, to fill the heart-splitting gaps. Because we can’t let go of what brings strength. We can’t abandon the One who promises to carry us and anchor us.

We return to the promises that sustain. To the Lover of Our Souls.

And we let hope take root…again.

If you’re in need of a little hope this holiday season, let’s join together and focus on the promises of God’s faithfulness, goodness, and constant care. Let’s embrace hope and choose the way of faith to silence our doubts.  And let’s choose to remember how He’s gone before us to make a way when we thought there was no way.

Join me each week throughout December for the HOPE FOR THE HOLIDAYS SERIES. as we encourage one another towards the kind of hope that stands strong in the face of all of our circumstances, and let’s challenge each other to be a beacon of hope for the one who may need it most…the one we pass in the grocery store…the one we meet in the line at the post office…or the one who feels lost and forgotten.

Because this is the kind of hope we all need for the holidays!

“Provoke yourself by recollection, and your affection for God will increase tenfold; your imagination will not be starved any longer but will be quick and enthusiastic, and your hope will be inexpressibly bright.” -Oswald Chambers

Download this Holiday Hope Printable in the Soul-Hope Cafe

 

Need more hope for the Christmas season?

Come back each Friday of December as we celebrate Hope for the Holidays! 

Wonder if God’s hearing your prayers…if He’s really working through your difficult season?

Need encouragement for how to savor up all the beauty of the holidays when life isn’t all you wished for this season?

Want some tangible hope you can count on that won’t leave you empty or wondering if there’s more God has planned for you?

 

 

Just for You…

The SOUL-HOPE CAFE is a place created exclusively just for you – a quiet little corner full of free gifts for you, where you can download all of our PRINTABLES, FRAMEABLES and INTENTIONAL LIFE TOOLS designed to sprinkle hope throughout your daily life