“One moment please!” I pleaded as I pulled the phone away from my face. I began to sob uncontrollably. Again and again I tried to catch my breath and get enough composure to explain the desperation I was feeling to my real estate agent. “Four months have passed, my house still hasn’t sold and I can’t find a new home. I need out of this situation!” I declared.

In the weeks that followed, I took long walks during my lunch break and cried. The future seemed bleak. I asked God, “Why don’t you care enough about my situation to do something about it?” My sadness turned to anger—and my anger to desperation—until finally I lost all hope.

It wasn’t until one late one night in a prayer meeting, with friends gathered around me praying, that I felt Jesus wrap his arms around me. The hopelessness lifted and peace came. I was suddenly aware that Jesus was with me the whole time; he never abandoned me. That gave me hope.

I’ve come to realize that without hope, we have nothing in life. But hope does not come from knowing that everything will be alright; hope comes from knowing Christ is with us every step of our journey. It comes from knowing that we are not alone, even in the midst of the darkest nights and the lowest valleys.

Eventually, God answered my prayers, as I found a new home and sold my old house. But hope came long before that when I knew he would never leave me because of his great love for me.

If life feels hopeless right now, I want you to know you are not without hope because you are not alone. Jesus is with you. He loves you. He hears every prayer and sees every tear.

Meditate on these four verses as you seek to restore hope today:

1. Lamentations 3:21-24 (GNTD)
   Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing: The LORD's unfailing love and mercy still continue, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. The LORD is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.
2. Psalm 43:5 (GNTD)
   Why am I so sad?Why am I so troubled? I will put my hope in God,and once again I will praise him,my savior and my God.
3. Romans 15:13 (GNTD)
   May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.
4. Psalm 33:22 (GNTD)
   May your constant love be with us, LORD, as we put our hope in you.