Maybe you had a job you really liked. Maybe you thought you’d be there for a long, long time. Maybe you’d even put a little bit of your security, your identity, and your peace of mind into that job.

Then one day, you get the dreaded call or meeting. You’ve been let go. Downsized.

Or maybe you had a great relationship. You thought he or she would always be there, always be around. Then one day that person’s gone for good.

It’s hard to keep hoping when it seems your hopes keep getting dashed to pieces. But still it’s better than having no hope at all.

God says, “Put your hope in me and you will never be disappointed. My hope isn’t a pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking kind of hope, but a certainty so sure that it’s as good as done.”

That’s what we all need to remember in those days when hope seems hardest to find. If your hope is in your employment or marital status or your children, you will be disappointed. Devastated.

But if your hope is in the living God, you will never be disappointed or put to shame. You will see your hope realized.

I love the line from Shawshank Redemption. It sums up what I’m trying to say nicely: “Remember . . . hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”