I will hope in Him.
—Job 13:15
Hope is the first step to conquering depression. Hope is the first step for just about every struggle we face. But it’s particularly important when it comes to depression.
Hope is the light at the end of the tunnel.
Depression robs us of the ability to see beyond our personal hurt and pain. In other words, it robs us of hope.
Depression is a wall-climbing, safe-busting, expert thief. It is an extraordinary escape artist who robs you quickly of your hope and leaves you to wonder what happened. That’s because it knows that without that hope, you will never conquer this illness.
I have counseled many people who struggled with depression. While I would offer varying kinds of help as the circumstances indicate, the one help I could always offer was hope, because hope is never in short supply.
Hope is what gets us out of bed in the morning and empowers us to get through the day. It is hope that sees us through the rough days and promises a better tomorrow.
God has plans for us that are filled with hope
Every heroic story I’ve read about a person overcoming great odds boils down to this one word, hope—hope that they will find their way out of the woods, hope that they will stay afloat on a raft until help comes, hope that someone will rescue them from captivity. If we are to break those chains that keep us under a dark cloud, we must cling to hope.
“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” (Jeremiah 29:11).
You will get better.
Along that journey, hope is the one constant you can count on. If you let hope slip through your fingers, your journey will take longer.
Depression is not hopeless; it just feels that way. That’s why it’s so important to tell yourself you are getting better every day. However, hope isn’t hoping unless you put it into practice. And some of the ways you do that are using the word, speaking the word, and embracing what the word means. So, what is hope?
Biblical hope is the confident expectation that what God has promised, He will deliver. And God has promised us so much, and unlike most of us, God never breaks a promise. You can even remind Him of those promises. I often have. So did King David and others. We aren’t telling God something He doesn’t know. We are claiming something He has promised.
There are days when hope is the only thing you can cling to.
- Let hope grab your hand as you take the next step.
- Hope gives you sleep and wakes you up in the morning.
- Let hope soothe you when it really hurts.
Know what God’s word says about hope
But without knowing God’s promises, hope will be hard to come by. Be sure you know God’s promises. You will be amazed at the number of them.
- Write down your favorite promises. Put them in a spot where can’t help but see them.
- Claim them.
I often wonder how I would pray and act differently if I knew the promises so well that I could recall them easily.
Embrace hope today. Let hope wrap its arms around you. Use the word in your speech. Speak the word. Shout the word. Write the word and post it where you will see it. Hope takes some of the sting out of depression. It’s like the balm of Gilead to our soul.
Where is your hope today?
Will you speak hope into your life today?
