Out of the Valley: 7 Days to Processing Brokenness and Getting to HopeSample

A mantra we have here at Broken Crayons Still Color is that hurt and hope can coexist.

It’s okay if this is just the beginning of your fight for hope. It’s even okay if this is your tenth or fiftieth attempt. We serve a King who sees us where we are at, and He loves that girl. And as surely as Jesus promised that we would be able to overcome the world through Him, He also definitely said that trials and hardships would come our way, just the same. We are given equal measure of hope as the hurt rolls through. 

What is hope? It is officially defined as, “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” But in this context, ladies, our certain thing has already happened. And it was the resurrection of Jesus for our sins. Now anything in your life can be resurrected, too. This hope means that there is an open door available for you. A possibility of moving forward. It says we don’t have to run into a cul-de-sac of our brokenness, without a way out. Even in the moments where we have given up, said that this can never get better, threw in the towel and rolled our eyes--there comes our God, saying: “Nope. I’ve got some resurrecting power for that. I’ve got some hope for you, daughter.” 

It’s one thing to say and define hope as humans, it’s another thing to hear what God says about hope. And, so we’re going to take the next couple of minutes to blaze you with words of absolute truth. Words that can’t be denied or argued. Words from our Father. Let’s go: 

Jeremiah 29:11: 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 a hope and a future. 

Psalm 33:20: We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. 

Romans 15:13: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. 

Hosea 2:15: God is the only one who can make the valley of trouble a door of hope. 

Psalm 9:8: But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish. 

And, Isaiah 40:31: But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary and they will walk and not be faint. 

Those are only 6 verses with the word “hope,” mentioned 7 times out of the 130 times hope is mentioned in 121 verses in the Bible. God is serious about us knowing and walking fully in His hope. This is more about us choosing to accept that even in the most treacherous valleys of our life, one thing remains, and that’s the hope of Jesus. Hope is available to you, and you don’t have to carry it alone.

When you interface with someone who walks in the hope of Jesus in their darkest moments, it literally changes you. We’ve all had that friend, read that story, or watched that video when a woman with a life-threatening disease, a woman who lost a family member, a woman who has experienced abuse--we see her STILL put her faith in Jesus, wear a smile and use her pain to help others. And it absolutely changes us. We’re inspired by them. We’re calling those women “Women of Hope.” Today, we’re challenging you to be one yourself.