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Follow Jesus Daily- Devotional Helping people Meet, Know, and Follow Jesus

Have you ever gone through a major trial in your life, only to have people around you telling you to have hope? Was that frustrating? Have you ever wondered why?

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us....Romans 5:1-5

This verse turns the idea of just being able to muster hope in dark times on it’s head. This verse is telling us that we will suffer, but that suffering is good because it causes grit. Grit is the ability to keep on fighting. That grit then produces character. Character you would not otherwise have if life was always good, easy, and happy go lucky. And then, once you have that wonderful character – then hope is produced!

So hope is not something that you can just conjure up! But once you go through hard things, and you come out the other side as a better and stronger Christian, you have hope. And hopefully your hope increases as your character develops and matures with every passing trial.

What is the last major trial you went through? How did you get through it? Who helped you along the way? How and when did God appear and rescue you? If you are in the middle of a trial right now, it might be harder for you to remember, but you know that it happened – so think about it! Pray about it. Thank God for his great love, that he pours into our hearts through the gift of the Holy Spirit.