Finding Hope Again

My poor little orchid plant is sitting outside right now, but I’ll be bringing it in soon because of the winter weather. It had been inside all summer, but in the early days of June all of the flowers died and the stems withered. The roots looked ok and the leaves are still green so I keep watering it. I wonder if it will grow again? It has looked dead before and sprouted new life. I will keep it, but I’m losing hope for it to bloom again. 

Watering that plant feels like a giant waste because it has looked dead for months now. For some reason, I will keep it. I think it is because it reminds me of myself. For years I struggled with depression. The future looked very dark. 

Would I always feel this way? 

That was my concern. After weeks, months, and then years of feeling sad, I begin to think maybe hope was not possible. As the Lord worked in my heart, I realized that hope wasn’t about believing I would wake up tomorrow and suddenly feel better. Hope wasn’t pretending the darkness wasn’t there or convincing myself that everything would eventually turn out the way I wanted.

Hope was choosing to believe that God was still working, even when I couldn’t see evidence of it.

Like watering an orchid that hasn’t bloomed in months, hope sometimes looks like continuing to trust God when nothing seems to be changing. Biblical hope isn’t rooted in what I can see happening around me—or even in what I feel happening inside me. Hope is rooted in the unchanging character of God.

I didn’t know when the darkness would lift. I didn’t know what healing would look like. But I could know God. And slowly I learned that hope wasn’t found in the promise that tomorrow would feel better. Hope was found in the promise that God would still be there tomorrow.

Hope actually comes when we start to preach god’s truth to our own hearts. 

Psalm 42 walks us through how to do this. 

Acknowledge Discouragement

The psalmist doesn’t gloss over his feelings. He has stopped eating, so upset and sad, that day and night he is tormented by his feelings of despair. His heart and soul are in turmoil and cast down. The idea of “cast down” means to fall so far down that you can’t get yourself up again. 

Discouragement is real! Just because we are Christians doesn’t mean we won’t face dismay. Life is too hard, too long, and often unending when it comes to suffering. Sin has tainted God’s good creation and now we must live in the consequences of Genesis 3. 

When our hearts our overwhelmed, and we can’t climb out of the pit, let’s first acknowledge the hopelessness. God is not afraid of our questions and doubts. God is not put off by us. As I suffered silently with my depression, I thought maybe God had left me and was upset that I didn’t “feel” better. Instead, when I started being honest with Him, and studying His character, I realized that He was not perturbed at my despondency. 

His love met me in the middle of my discouragement and that is where I began to shift my thinking about hope. 

Speak Truth Instead of Listening to Fear

We do not listen to fear. Psalm 42 says we speak truth to ourselves! He declares in the midst of his sorrow: 

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

    and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

    my salvation and my God. Psalm 42:5

Hope is Anchored in God

Notice that the author does not say we are to hope our circumstances get better. Nor will we praise, pretending the bad things have never happened. We focus on God. Salvation has come through Jesus Christ and our ultimate salvation, bringing us to heaven, will come!  We anchor our hope in God. 

An anchor holds the boat steady. It does not get rid of the waves, the rain, or the storm. The boat still has to go through it all. Instead, the anchor keeps a hold of the boat so the boat doesn’t tip over. God is our anchor, but hope is the rope that keeps us holding on to Him! 

The storms of life will still come. Fear will still whisper. There may even be days when our souls feel downcast again. But instead of listening to everything fear tells us, we can speak truth to our souls: Hope in God.

Maybe that is why I haven’t thrown away my orchid.

There are no flowers right now. I don’t see any evidence that another bloom is coming. But the leaves are still green. The roots are still there. So I will keep watering it.

Sometimes hope looks like that.

We keep praying when we don’t see an answer. We keep opening God’s Word when our feelings haven’t changed. We keep getting up each morning and trusting that God is with us. We keep speaking the truth when fear gets loud.

I don’t know if my orchid will bloom again. And there are things in my life right now that I don’t know how God will resolve either. Biblical hope doesn’t require me to know.

I was looking for flowers as proof that there was hope. But God was tending the roots.

Friend, if your life doesn’t look like it’s blooming right now, don’t assume God isn’t working. Your soul may feel downcast. Your circumstances may remain unchanged. The future may still feel uncertain. But you have an anchor that will hold.

So speak to your soul today:

Hope in God.

Weekly Practice:

Read Psalm 42 aloud each morning.

This post is part of the Fall 2026 Blog Series

Every Day with God: Meeting with Jesus in Every Season of Life

Abiding isn’t just a summer lesson—it’s a lifelong way of walking with Jesus. Whether life is joyful or difficult, busy or quiet, we can meet with God every single day through His Word.

“One thing have I asked of the Lord…that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” — Psalm 27:4

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