Hope Through All Times by Jason Ling

Romans 5:2-5, ”2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

When I made the choice to turn my life over to God, one of the things I noticed is that life still wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies. Truth is, there were still bad things happening to me and to others I think of as good people. Evil still exists in the world and the struggles with it are real. Instead of asking, "Why God,” I began to ask, "What are you trying to show me.” Only then could I begin to to see and feel God's comfort and hope.

Romans 5 encourages us in the presence of God, the grace that he surrounds us with and the hope that we now have. I know that we can even rejoice in these times of hardships, knowing that God is in the process of building and shaping us into what he desires us to be. I know that no matter how I may feel, God is up to something great, I just can’t seem to see it quite yet. Isn’t this a reassuring definition of hope!

I would like to encourage each one of us to rejoice in all times, not just in the good, but especially in the difficult, knowing full well that our God, so full of grace, is working his master plan in our lives.

I pray this week that God continues to be your salvation and your hope, and carry you through whatever life throws at you. I pray you continue to rejoice, knowing full well that He will never let you down, and bring you exactly to the place he needs and wants you to be.