How do I find hope? 

In the midst of all that is happening, the darkness, danger, and division one might wonder: how do I find hope? How can I tap into the Joy, content and peace?

I believe that we can do so by fixing our eyes on the things above. The bible tells us in Philippians 4:8 that we are to think in “ whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”… It sounds easy but it is not! With all the things thrown at us and all the “voices” and narratives surrounding our circumstances, we might be tempted to tap into those narratives ourselves, and if we are not careful, we will!

Our brains are by default created to scan for the negative but we can redirect our brains to look for the positive by being grateful. It starts with a choice! If we choose to remain positive and optimistic in the midst of our circumstances, we are inviting Hope into the equation. Therefore, our Faith grows.

The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:1 that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” This is key because we need hope to have the “substance” or the physical manifestation of the things that we are hoping or believing. However, faiths not stagnant, it has movement and is confirmed by our thoughts and actions.

I have found that in the same way we exercise and eat healthy to keep ourselves in shape, we are to “exercise” our spiritual muscles.  We all have muscles but we all have different strength and stamina. One key element here is that we all have the potential to increase our strength and stamina through exercise, to build that muscle. In the same way, we exercise and target the weak areas in our body; we must exercise and build our “faith muscle”.  The way we do this is by establishing habits and disciplines that will help you bring hope and optimism into your life, so you can keep your eyes on the things above.

One of the things that works for me is to be mindful of thought patterns that I have. I try to be aware as much as I can of those “unfiltered” thoughts that come to us throughout the day.  If I catch one I “capture” it and I do not allow it to come in by “turning it around” into a positive. For that, I have to scan my brain to find something positive that will cancel this particular negative. Once I find it I chose to change the thought from one that will hindered to one that will build my faith and hope up. By doing that, I am not denying the circumstance but I am rather choosing to look objectively at the situation and make a conscious decision to focus on the good. 

One of the practices that I found helpful is called “Three Gratitudes”. Shawn Archor talks about this on his book The Happiness Advantage. The point of this exercise it to pause to take note of three new things each day that you are grateful for. It trains your brain to focus on the positive instead of the negative circumstances around you. I encourage you to try it and or to develop your own version of it.

I want encourage yourself to get into spiritual shape. In the same way, reading the bible and prayer are important habits to cultivate your spiritual we also need to create routines that will help us build a life full of hope, faith and love.  

Would you try something new today?  My challenge for you today, if you choose to accept is to write are 3 “new” things you are grateful for that happened in the last 24 hours! If you enjoy this, please consider to do it for 21 days in a row. Try not to repeat the things that you are being grateful. For a twist, you write it in a post it an collect them in a jar all the way through Christmas.  Sit around the tree on Christmas and open the Jar read it aloud with your family and have fun filling yourself with hope!

Key Bible Verse:

“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

I hope this blesses you today! Keep focusing on truth and build that faith muscle, you can do this! Xoxo ~Barb