What to Do When Things Seem Hopeless

If you’re going through a difficult time right now, I want you to know that God loves you. He sees what you’re going through, He is with you, and He desires to help you right where you are.

Psalm 34:18 (NLT) says, The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. When we are hurting, God hurts with us.

Maybe you feel like things have gotten too difficult and there’s nothing good left for your future. That is what the enemy wants you to believe, but God has something else to say...

The Lord says, For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you...thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome (Jeremiah 29:11).

Our enemy, Satan, wants to discourage us and make us feel like things will never get better...like there’s no way out. He wants us to believe that we’re all alone. I dealt with depression for years, and there’s a tendency to want to keep it hidden. It’s easy to isolate ourselves and feel like no one else can possibly understand.

The enemy likes it when we keep things hidden in the dark. However, God is Light, and when we discover what He has to say and shine His light into our situation, it brings freedom and hope.

I think it’s common for people to feel embarrassed when it comes to depression or having thoughts of suicide. But the greatest thing we can do in these situations is tell someone else and get it out in the open.

If that’s where you are today, I encourage you to take a step of faith and reach out to a close friend or a trained Christian counselor. Don’t allow the enemy to keep it hidden, but take the opportunity to get things out into the light.

I’ve learned from experience that keeping things like this to ourselves makes everything seem worse than it really is. But when we get it out into the open, it brings relief, and we allow God to use other people to help us.

The truth is, we all need to talk to someone at different times. We all go through things and need someone to help us get through our difficult seasons in life.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I encourage you to take a few moments and pray right now:

“Father, I need You now. You say You love me and see exactly where I am…and in spite of how I feel, I choose to believe Your Word. In the face of all I am going through, I look to You for help. I need Your strength to deal with everything that feels too big for me right now. Help me to keep my eyes on You. Please make Yourself real to me…and encourage me for the road ahead. Help me experience Your love and presence in a tangible way. I give all that I am to You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

At this moment, you may be facing what seems like an impossible situation. But I want you to know that God can make all things new. He can take your problem and turn it into something good.

That’s why I want to invite you to fill out the form below and request a free copy of my book titled, Holding On to Hope. The Bible says that God is the “God of hope,” full of mercy and new beginnings (see Romans 15:13). And He wants you to be full of hope—believing, expecting, and anticipating great things from Him.

Hope is the confident expectation that something good is going to happen. It’s closely related to our faith and what we believe. When we dare to hope, it floods our life with joy and peace.

My husband, Dave, and I laugh about it now, but in the early years of our marriage, I was the most negative person I knew. I often joke that if I thought two positive thoughts in a row, my brain would get into a cramp!

I’ll never forget it—we had been married about three weeks when Dave looked at me and asked, “What is wrong with you? You have such a negative attitude.”

And this is how bad it was: I responded with, “Well, if you don’t expect anything good to happen, then you won’t be disappointed when it doesn’t.” Needless to say, I did not have a hopeful attitude!

Today, I can honestly sit here and tell you that God has transformed me from being negative and pessimistic to someone who is full of hope, always expecting His goodness around every corner. Little by little, He helped me discover the power of hope and what that means for my thoughts, words, attitudes and every area of my life.

I want to share what I learned with you. This book contains some of the greatest lessons the Lord has taught me in this area—lessons that truly have the ability to change your life if you apply them.

So, are you stuck in a rut and can’t see a way out? Have you lost your positive vision for the future? Would you like to rediscover joy in your everyday life?

Wherever you find yourself today—regardless of what’s happened or how things may look right now—always remember that God is on your side. He is the God of the impossible…and the One who can make a miracle out of any situation.