Choose hope!

hope should play an important part in our lives. And the highest and surest hope one can find is in God. The psalmist expressed his confidence in these words: "For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth." n1

n1 Psalms 71:5.

We can gain this deep confidence in God when we realize that each of us has very special relationship with the creator of the universe. Unlike a human bond , man's relationship with God exists forever; it cannot be interrupted or lost. As we recognize this fact, begin to build our daily living on this foundation, we know there is always reason for hope.

We have a purpose in life that will never be changed -- to reflect God's qualities and attributes.God needs us as the sun needs the sunbeams. Because God is good, man's relation to Him is harmonious -- perfect in every way. We come to understand this more and more as we consistently turn to God in prayer and follow His guidance.

Mary Baker Eddy n2 writes: "In order to pray aright, we must enter into the closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and silence the material senses. In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings, we must deny sin and plead God's allness." n3

n2 Mrs. Eddy is the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science

n3 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,m p. 15.

We can begin to free ourselves from any tangle of hopelessness and depression through heartfelt desire to be less mortal in our thoughts and actions, more the child of God.

What if we don't feel much like making the effort to pray our way out of hopelessness? One way to cut through this apathy is to praise God -- give thanks in advance. Then we feel the hope in the never-failing love of God that lifts us out of the cul-de-sac of bitterness and points us toward the life worth living!

Christ Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." n4 Through his resurrection from death he proved God to be eternal Life and ever-present Love. He demonstrated that hopelessness is a mistaken sense, that it can be dispelled through the power of divine Love. A consciousness filled with the richness of Christ -- the infinite Truth and Life that Jesus manifested -- is rich in joy, gratitude, and peace.

n4 John 10:10

God's ideas provide us with all we need. We can't whistle ideas out of the blue sky, but when we humbly listen for God's guidance the right ideas to meet our needs will become apparent.

The Bible tells of Hagar, an Egyptian woman who had a child by Abraham. When , in response to the wishes of his wife, Abraham sent Hagar away with a bottle of water and some bread, she and the child went into the wilderness. When the bottle was empty, Hagar put her son under a shrub. She couldn't bear to see the child die, and she sat down a good way off, weeping.

In this desert of hopelessness a message from God reached her. Her eyes were opened. She saw a well of water and filled the bottle. The well had been there all the time, but in her distress Hagar hadn't seen it. n5

N5 See Genesis 21:9-20.

No one can get so deep into depression that God can't reach him. god is everywhere. His saving power is available to all right now. We can master hopelessness and depression by turning to Him, our hope and best friend.

Choose hope! DAILY BIBLE VERSE And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety. Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid. Job 11:18, 19