“Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping …” Romans 4:18 NLT

 It's a terrible thing to have to "learn to live" with hopelessness, to convince yourself that life is what it is and that "what it is" will never change. It's not that you don't want to believe, but when you look at situations around you, it seems almost cruel to allow yourself to hope. But, when you factor God into the equation, situations don't really matter because He's not bound by "how things appear"! He's God!

"I hope we'll have a turkey for Thanksgiving!" little five year old Zach announced to his great-grandmother, who is raising him in her home. In the moment, tears filled her eyes because according to "appearances" it seemed hopeless. She had already lost her car because instead of choosing to continue to pay her car payments, she chose to buy food to feed Zach and her 13 year old granddaughter, who also lives with her. If you're looking for a "hopeless" situation, this would seem to qualify. But she looked beyond herself and her situation; she knew God. She trusted Him. And though tears wanted to fall, out of her innermost being rose faith, hope. "God will provide," she declared to Zach who was awaiting her reply. "God will provide." There were no checks expected in the mail, no help expected to arrive, nothing to indicate that her declaration was accurate. Nothing other than her complete trust in the Lord.

That evening the telephone rang. The call was to let her know that she and her family could go to Harmon's Lick Church of God on Tuesday morning to pick up a box of food that was being given out by a group from the Men and Women of Action. Not having a car, she had to ask someone to go and pick up the food for her. When the box arrived at her home, she found all she needed to make a wonderful Thanksgiving meal...including a twelve pound turkey! Yes, God provided, and His provision didn't stop with only a turkey. They were also invited to come back to the church to receive a brand new coat and blanket, and on Friday evening, the children could come and receive Christmas gifts! Hope pushed its way through like a fresh seedling in the springtime. Though everything around her suggested that hope was a waste of time and emotion, still she hoped. She trusted God, and God made a way where there seemed to be no way!

For one week in the Southeastern Kentucky region of the Appalachians, I watched Hope shine through the MWOA team that had descended on that place with a heart to serve! It was amazing to watch the grace of God work through each team member as we unloaded trailers, vehicles, and a semi-truck trailer filled with food, blankets, new coats, shoes, and toys galore and as we stood in the rain to purchase and load 300 10-12 lbs. frozen turkeys. He worked through us as we walked through and worked in the mud to build a new screened-in back porch on a parsonage and a brand new outbuilding for the church and as we wrapped hundreds of toys for the children and filled hundreds of boxes full of food. What a team! At first, if you had just looked at the toys, food, blankets, and clothes spread around the sanctuary, and if you had considered that we only had a couple of days to organize it all, you would have thought, "It's hopeless!" As one lady from the church put it, "This looks like a disaster area." But, we didn't look at the piles of stuff and see hopelessness, we saw potential. This toy has the potential to touch a child's life. This blanket has the potential to keep a family warm. This turkey has the potential to feed a hungry family.    

So, we worked with joy, and it all came together...organized and on time. We fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and gave warmth to those who would have otherwise been cold. Through our action and God's provision, hope was given to the hopeless.

Many of the people said to me, "I didn't know what we were going to do for Thanksgiving," or "I didn't know how I was going to get my children new coats this year." I was reminded of how God said to Moses, "Their cries have come before Me." In response to their cries, He assembled a team of people from Ohio to Mobile, Alabama and many other places in between to come to a place they had never been, to give time and attention to people they had never met, all to put His love and ability on display and to show Himself strong to those in need. The people in this community didn't have money or resources to change their situation. But among them, they had those who had faith in God and a determination to look past the hopelessness and believe that He could bring the change they needed! And He did bring change! God is so involved in our lives. He hears us, He sees us, and He knows how to work all things for our good and for His glory. See, God doesn't know the word hopeless. He just needs us to trust Him. Jesus said, "Have faith in God."

Zach's great-grandmother had no evidence that provision would come, but she believed God, and provision came, not only to her and her family, but to an entire community. When we dare to look past the surface of what seems to be complete hopelessness and believe God anyway, that's faith. Faith moves the heart of God. In response to faith, God will move what has to be moved and do whatever has to be done in order to watch over His Word and perform it! When we believe God, all things are possible!

Zach's great-grandmother said to me, "Now Zach knows it's true when I say, 'We can trust God!'" Yes, hopelessness can do nothing but fade away when you factor God into the equation!