There’s a big difference between hoping FOR something and hoping IN someone.

I get them confused all the time, and I end up feeling foolish for having had hope. 

If my hope is IN my loved one’s potential for change, IN a future that may or may not come to pass, IN my own efforts to make something of myself—I can easily be disappointed, hurt, ashamed. I can easily decide that hope is futile. I can easily turn cynical.

But if I put my hope IN God, IN love, IN the power of truth and the promise of justice—then I can rest. Then I can dream. Then I can hope FOR change in my own spirit and in the people I love. Then I can hope FOR healing and wholeness.

And even if what I hope FOR doesn’t come to pass, I do not lose hope. For the one I put my hope IN remains faithful and true and good and overflowing with abundant love.

More with Amy Julia:

• S3 E14 | The Astonishing Hope of a Mortal Life with J. Todd Billings
• Healing Is Slow
• Hope Heals Camp: Believing Something Good

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