Today’s Guest Blogger, Liz Petruzzi shares her heart and tells you how to have hope for the future. You can connect with Liz on her Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts.
How To Have Hope For the Future
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
–Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
This is the verse. My verse. The verse I cling to when life doesn’t make sense. I need this verse. I need to know God has a plan for my life – a good plan. I need to know I have hope and a future. (my hope and future involves a beach house – just sayin’)
The reality is life is hard, confusing, tragic. It hurts. I often feel overwhelmed – as if I’m shoveling snow in a blizzard. Hard as I try, I can’t get a handle on it. I need to know God has more for me. I’m in the middle of the unknown and awful – all I can do is hold on and hope for something better, something more:
- Healing
- Restoration
- Hope
- A Future
How do we make sense of our circumstances? What do we say to the mother whose three year old has cancer? The one whose child is missing? Those who watch their children starve to death on corners of the world we rarely see? Hope and a future? Where is their hope? Their future? I search the horizon and I can’t see it.
Our fallen, broken world has trouble – this side of eternity has illness and poverty, broken bridges and death. Our hope frequently lies in the unseen.What waits beyond the horizon.Often, my faith (or lack thereof) boils down to a simple question:
“But what about you?” He asked.
“Who do you say I am?” Matthew 16:15
When trouble comes and life goes sideways or the bottom drops out, do I believe His promises? Do I trust and believe He is who He says He is? Sometimes. Sometimes I question and doubt.Sometimes I get mad and think God is asleep at the wheel – or worse, He’s turned His back on me. At times, my doubt and unbelief leave me alone and wandering in a painfully dry and dusty desert.
He loves me still.
When I lay my burdens down and trust Him, I get what I need – hope for my future. It’s not easy. It’s not magic. Sometimes it’s moment by painful moment. But God, your loving Father will never leave you hopeless. His love never fails. He can restore what the locusts have eaten away.
What about you? What do you feel that God has for your future?
Author Bio
Liz Petruzzi is a beach, dog and coffee lover who believes God’s love is for everyone – but doesn’t have all the answers. “Throughout the Bible, we see confused people trusting God. They endured hardships, death, loss. Look at poor Job. Their suffering and circumstances were always part of a bigger story they didn’t always understand.”
Liz writes about life and faith on her blog, lizpetruzzi.com and loves to connect with people who wrestle with both. Liz can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.