Hope can be defined in many ways. It can be something you look forward to, something you believe or the placing of your trust. Regardless of which definition you choose, there is an outcome you are anticipating. That hope can be as small as a good parking spot, or tonight as I’m watching the Bengals vs Bills football game, the hope is as big as someone’s life as Damar Hamlin’s condition is unknown after collapsing on the field.

Hope is my word for 2023. It was my word for 2019 and I wasn’t planning to use it again, but God nudged me to focus on how He’s going to work through it and not my plans of a new word to add to my list of words. In 2019 I remembering being hopeful for a new season. The previous years were challenging and I was looking forward to a mountaintop season of life. This year I’m placing my trust in God and believing Him to always be good. I may walk through some valleys again this year, but God’s goodness isn’t defined by my circumstances. If this year boasts of many mountaintop experiences, God’s goodness still isn’t defined by my circumstances. Earthly blessings are just a tiny shadow of how good God is, but the hope of temporal things can point to the deeper hope for an eternity free from the brokenness we face in this world. I hope to see much of God’s grace and mercy this year through temporal blessings….I’m human, but my ultimate hope is in Jesus. My hope is in the One who makes mercies new each morning (Lamentations 3:22), restores what the locust has eaten (Joel 2:25), and has a place prepared for me (John 14:1-3). Even in the valleys He’s there leading and comforting me (Psalm 23) and works all things for His glory and my good (Romans 8:28).