We recently got some disappointing news. We had hoped that Jonathan’s recent surgery would be successful and enable him to operate normally again, but instead we found out it didn’t really work. We’re still waiting on healing, and hoping for better things to come.

I don’t think there has ever been a time in my life I haven’t been hoping for something. I’ve struggled throughout my life when there wasn’t something “to look forward to”. If there wasn’t anything, I planned something, anything. When things got hard I comforted myself by looking ahead and thinking, “But I just have to make it until _ (something fun) comes.” My joy and contentment were very much controlled by the circumstances of my life. (Enter the difficult years.) It’s been a crazy past 4-5 years, full to the brim with difficult things. To name a few: a hurricane crushing our home, my mom dying after a sudden diagnosis of late-stage cancer, my husband having emergency heart surgery at 35, being homeless several times, PTSD, etc…Planning something to look forward to just stopped working for me at some point. When life is so hard you can’t look beyond the next few hours or when what you see ahead only brings more anxiety, you need something MORE. Better. Deeper.

Tim Keller says, “The way you live now is completely controlled by what you believe about your future.”

It’s true. What my hardships and afflictions revealed is that I had too much hope in the wrong things. Looking at what I want for the future is like putting an anchor in the sand, but looking at what God says about my future is like putting an anchor on a rock. I don’t need to think more about my hopes, for that only leaves me with more disappointment; I need to think more about my hope in Christ, for that alone leaves me with joy. Through all these things I’ve come to realize a secret that has anchored me through many, many storms these last few years: think deeply about the truths of God. These years have revealed that I needed so much discipline in my thinking. It’s much deeper than, “Don’t think negative thoughts” or “Find a peaceful place in your mind.” Those can be good things, but they are not anchors. I’ve been driven down to the root questions of faith: Is God real? Did He really send His Son out of love for me? Is my eternity secure in Christ? Can anything separate me from Him? Is He truly preparing a place for me? Will He actually use these terrible things for good? If these things are true, I have everything to look forward to and nothing to lose. Even if I lose it all in this life, I don’t really lose a thing.

Paul says in Romans 8:18, “For I consider (reckon) that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.”

The word reckon or consider is an accounting term. Now, I’m not the best at math, but I do know that when you are counting you have to think about the numbers. You can’t really multi-task while adding things up. You have to think deeply about it. So when we face hard things we need to think deeply about our future. We need to stack things up. When we add up all the things of this life and all of our suffering, then push the pile (big or small) against what God says about our future hope we see there’s no comparison. The joy awaiting us is far better than anything in this life. The Bible is pretty clear about our hope. It’s not just something like, “I really hope the weather will be nice next week.” We have nothing on which to base that hope. It’s arbitrary. The hope the Bible gives for those who trust in Jesus is solid. Jesus is called the cornerstone, the solid rock, and the firm foundation. Do we believe it’s true? If so, nothing in this life need shake us. Our hope is sure.

So yes, I am hoping for better things to come. That hope is assured if I fully believe what God says is true. If I am not at peace, maybe I am not fully thinking out the implications of my faith in Christ. When I am setting all my hope in Him, I can live this life in peace knowing complete healing and more good than I can imagine awaits me. This doesn’t mean I have not grieved. We have grieved deeply, but nothing in this life can shake my future with Jesus. I don’t need to plan something good ahead anymore. Jesus did that for me on the cross. His outstretched arms offer the best good I could ever have: eternal life with Him. I have everything to look forward to.