hope for the hopeless

yesterday i had been in the house all day and i was itching to do something, to get out, to be free. and lets just say these "free" moments rarely come anymore. i often feel trapped, isolated, and alone and this is no fault but my own. i have come to find that "transition" periods in my life are NEVER fun...but as i was convicted by a sermon last night, those waiting periods, those awful, sucky, "i don't understand you at all GOD" moments, months, seasons, make the period after waiting so much more beautiful than i could ever imagine.

so i bundled up in many layers, took my ipod and began to walk around my neighborhood. it was sunny (ohio? really?) and i was enjoying being alone with God's creation. For some reason, I was in A Fine Frenzy mood and therefore I put her music on and just let my mind wander.

i wondered what my friends were doing, if i was ever going to find a job, if i was going to go crazy if i didn't find friends soon, you know, the normal stuff that goes through someone's head when their world has been turned upside down.

then i heard the song, "hope for the hopeless"

the first few lyrics really hit me for the first time:

stitch in your knitted brow

and you don't know how

you're gunna get it out

crushed under a heavy chest

trying to catch your breath

but it always beats you by a step

all right now

making the best of it

playing the hand you get

well you're not alone in this

there's hope for the hopeless

it amazes me how easily she could sing about hope for all those who felt so hopeless, including myself. i wondered where she received the credentials to give others hope. she didn't explain where the hope came from, how one could receive this "hope," but just sang "there is hope!"

what. an. empty. claim.

i understand that she was trying to give the hopeless hope that there were others going through bad situations too, to give them comfort that they were not alone in their hopelessness, but i don't really want to be around a lot of other hopeless people, i don't feel like that would make me feel hopeful, but would probably make me feel even MORE hopeless.

but here is where i am reminded why i have hope. i have hope because i have a God who is bigger than this world, who has and will continue to be with me in times of aloneness, confusion, frustration, anger, and sadness. i have hope because HE HAS OVERCOME THE WORLD.

Hebrews 1:10-12

"In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end."

i have real, true, hope. one that has been tested by fire and will continue to last through eternity.