August 8, 2025 • 28 mins
In this episode of the 'One Yes At A Time' podcast, hosts Susan Dies and Keidra Hobley discuss the crucial role of hope in human life from a Christian perspective. They reference biblical scriptures to highlight hope's connection to a sense of purpose and well-being. The hosts share personal anecdotes, findings from a study done at the University of Missouri-Columbia, which found that hope is linked to a meaningful life, better health, and more satisfying relationships. They offer practical steps for maintaining hope and emphasize that true hope is found in a relationship with Jesus. This hope, anchored by faith in God, helps navigate life's challenges and sustains believers, even in difficult times. The episode concludes with a prayer, encouraging listeners to find strength and hope in their faith.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Susan Dies (00:00):
Welcome to the one Yes at A Time podcast.
(00:01):
My name is Susan Dies and I'mhere with my co-host, Keidra
Hobley, and today we're talkingabout something that I believe
is gonna be an encouragement toeveryone who takes the time to
listen...
because today we're talkingabout hope...
and Keidra, hope is somethingthat every human being needs.
Absolutely.
And the Bible tells us in onePeter 3:15 to"Always be prepared
(00:22):
to give a reason for the hope wehave in Jesus"...
and that's what we're hoping todo today.
Keidra Hobley (00:26):
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
And that is so important becausewe all need hope as you said.
Susan Dies (00:31):
We do.
In fact, this past week as I wasdoing some reading on this topic
of hope, I came across aninteresting article that was
published in June of 2025.
It was a study done byresearchers at the University of
Missouri and Columbia, and itincluded more than 2300
participants.
And in this study, researchersanalyzed a number of different
(00:51):
positive emotions that we ashuman beings desire to
experience.
Some were amusement andentertainment.
Mm-hmm.
Top of the list.
Yep.
Contentment...
excitement...
happiness, hope, and gratitude.
And what they found is that outof all these different emotions,
hope was the only emotion thatconsistently predicted that
(01:12):
people would also feel thattheir life had meaning.
It also showed that people wholive with hope enjoy better
health.
They have an overall greatersense of wellbeing...
and they have more satisfyingrelationships.
And so the bottom line is thateven more than contentment, even
more than happiness andgratitude, what people need is
hope.
Does that surprise you?
Keidra Hobley (01:32):
It does not surprise me, but I would not
have thought that that would'vebeen the top of the list like it
was...
and what really stood out to mejust then when you said that is
the connection betweenhopelessness and health.
That really hit me.
So sometimes I think when wefind ourselves in a place of
being unhealthy..
Uhhuh...
whether it's physically,mentally, emotionally,
(01:53):
socially...
we may need to look and seewhere we lost hope.
Wow.
Yeah.
Susan Dies (01:58):
That's a great thought.
Why do you think that out of allthese different emotions that
they studied, that hope was theone that predicted whether or
not someone would feel thattheir life has meaning?
Keidra Hobley (02:10):
Because hope is attached to purpose.
Purpose isn't automaticallyfulfilled, and so it takes hope
to continue to believe that youwill fulfill the purpose for
which the Lord has created you.
Susan Dies (02:23):
Something that came to my mind is that in
Ecclesiastes 3:11 it says Godhas made everything beautiful in
its time." In its time.
Yeah.
And that's the hope that weneed.
Mm-hmm.
And that somehow, no matter whatwe go through in this life, that
God will do exactly as hepromised in Isaiah 61...
that we will trade poverty forwealth..
Mm-hmm...
(02:43):
shame for joy...
mourning for dancing...
ashes for beauty.
I think that's my favorite one.
Yeah.
That's the comfort.
That's the promise.
That's the hope...
that somehow God will take eventhe bad things in life and, in
time, somehow make somethingbeautiful out of that.
And only God can do that.
And all we have to do is look tothe cross to know that that's
(03:04):
true.
Keidra Hobley (03:04):
Yeah.
When you said ashes for beauty,I think so many times we want
the beauty..
Mm...
but we don't wanna have toendure the ashes.
You're right.
Yeah.
And so that's where hope comesin, because when you're in the
midst of those ashes, you haveto be hopeful knowing that, that
will be exchanged for beauty.
Susan Dies (03:20):
I love that.
It also says at the end of thatsame verse, that"God has set
eternity in the human heart." Sothis means that every single
person is born with a God-givenawareness that there is
something more to this life...
that God has hardwired us ashuman beings to put our hope in
the eternal.
Mm-hmm.
Don't you find that interesting?
Keidra Hobley (03:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it is in the looking towardseternity that we have to have
hope because that's long term.
That's right.
That's end game, you know?
And if we were looking at justthe day to day without keeping
in sight eternity, then we willlose hope.
Susan Dies (03:55):
We will.
In fact, I think he did that onpurpose because he knows that
there are many hopes that we'llnever be fulfilled this side of
heaven..
Mm-hmm...
in this life.
People are still gonna get sickand die.
Tragic things are still gonnahappen that cause us to question
everything we ever thought weknew.
Yeah.
Unforeseen circumstances aregonna shake our world...
but when our hope is in God,regardless of what we face in
(04:17):
this life, God has promised tomake everything, even the worst
things, beautiful in its time.
And that's the hope that weneed.
Keidra Hobley (04:24):
Yeah.
That's so good.
Susan Dies (04:25):
You know, whether somebody is a believer or not,
it actually makes sense to methat hope would be the one that
we would need...
not necessarily the one that wemight want the most..
Mm-hmm...
but the one that we need...
because hope is necessary, ifyou think about it, for us to
experience all the otherpositive emotions that they
analyzed.
Like you can't be happy andhopeless at the same time.
Right, right.
That's true.
(04:46):
You can't be content or gratefulor excited and be hopeless at
the same time.
Yeah.
And if you're hopeless, you'recertainly not gonna care about
being amused or entertained.
Mm-hmm.
People who are hopeless reallydon't care that much about
anything.
And so this is a prettyimportant topic..
Yeah...
that we're covering today.
Keidra Hobley (05:02):
Yeah.
And you said that, um,believer...
or nonbeliever...
we all need hope.
That's, I think's it's veryinteresting, that for a
nonbeliever, you know, sometimeswe as believers will look at a
nonbeliever and it looks as ifthey are having a better life
than we are.
And I think, you know, that itreminded me that they're putting
their hope in something..
Mm-hmm...
whereas we are to put our hopein someone.
(05:25):
And so if we take our eyes offJesus, that's when we get
hopeless...
but they're not taking theireyes off of their thing,
whatever that is thing is thatthey're putting their hope in...
and therefore, they'recontinuing to pursue the things
that they are seeking.
Does that make sense?
Susan Dies (05:39):
And so it appears that they have more hope than
they actually do.
That's right.
Mm-hmm.
I've been thinking a lot abouthope recently, and I've found
that over the years that I'vebeen teaching, whenever I'm
preparing to talk aboutsomething or teach on a topic,
the Lord will give me anopportunity to put whatever I'm
teaching into practice.
Okay.
Have you had that same thing?
Keidra Hobley (05:59):
All the time.
Susan Dies (05:59):
Maybe it's just to keep me honest so that when I
teach I can honestly say thatI've experienced this particular
thing that we're wrestling with,at least to some degree.
And a few days ago I was talkingwith one of my sisters about an
issue that we've been prayingabout for years.
A situation that if we'rehonest, has only gotten worse,
instead of better over theyears...
and we have prayed...
(06:21):
and prayed...
and prayed some more, and yetthe situation actually seems
more hopeless today than ever.
And it's in these times...
when things seem to get worseand not better, when so much
time has passed with nosignificant change in
circumstances, that we can beginto feel hopeless.
Like, yeah, what is the point incontinuing to pray?
Yeah.
Is God even listening?
(06:41):
Does God care what I'm goingthrough?
If God is sovereign, and we bothknow that he is, why doesn't he
do something?
And as she and I were talking, Icould feel myself getting in a
bad mood.
Mm-hmm.
Like I was just feelingfrustrated about this situation
that I can't fix.
Frustrated that the situationhasn't changed, and if I'm
(07:02):
honest, frustrated that Godhasn't done something.
Yeah, of course.
I know that it's not my job tofix it, and I do know that God
is working in the situation, butthe more we talked about it
just...
the more irritable I felt andthe more I struggled to speak
words of hope...
which is interesting becausethis is what we were getting
ready to talk about.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so I knew that she neededhope and not my irritability...
(07:25):
and so I finally just got offthe phone...
and then I began to talk to myhusband about it.
Mm-hmm.
And the more I talked about it,the more hopeless the situation
seemed, to the point that I evensaid out loud, it's never gonna
change.
And I even said, I cancompletely understand why people
can feel so hopeless.
And in the middle of thisconversation with David, I
(07:46):
realized that a sense ofhopelessness was exactly what I
was experiencing.
I was thinking negativethoughts.
Yeah.
I was speaking negative wordsand all that negative talk only
reinforced..
Yeah...
what I was feeling.
And in that moment I realizedthat Satan had my number.
You know what I mean?
Ah, yeah.
Like he dialed 4 1 1 and Ipicked up and I gave him all the
information he needed...
(08:08):
by the words coming out of mymouth...
to know exactly how todiscourage me.
Yeah.
I did that to myself.
Yeah.
And then also to get me to doubtthat God was at work and to
believe that things were nevergonna change.
Mm-hmm.
But as soon as I recognized thatthis wrestling in my spirit
wasn't really a wrestling withmy doubts about God...
but rather a wrestling in myspirit with Satan..
(08:29):
Yeah...
who wanted me to doubt God...
just that fast I thought tomyself, I'm not about to give
Satan this victory.
That's right.
And literally in the middle of asentence, in my conversation
with David, I said, you knowwhat?
I really don't wanna talk aboutthis anymore.
What I need to do is I need togo get ready for my day.
Mm-hmm.
And I need to spend some time inprayer.
And that's exactly what I did.
(08:50):
And interestingly, the momentthat I consciously changed my
focus to something good..
Yeah...
which was to get ready for myday, go meet my mom and one of
my other sisters for breakfast,which is something we do every
Saturday..
Yeah...
and I began to talk to Jesusabout what I was feeling...
just that change of focus, justthat intentional time spent with
(09:11):
Jesus in prayer, and then timewith people who I knew would
make me laugh..
Mm-hmm...
almost immediately there was ashift in my spirit, and my mood
began to change, and I began tofeel more hopeful again.
And what I realized in thatmoment is that hopelessness is
an inner spiritual battle thatrages in the heart and mind, and
it can only be fought withspiritual weapons.
(09:33):
Yeah.
But we gotta recognize it forthe spiritual battle that it is.
Like God's word tells us we haveto guard our hearts.
It tells us what kinds ofthoughts that we need to dwell
on.
Yeah.
It tells us where to go and whatto do when we're struggling.
It also tells us in Ephesians6:10-18 that when we're in a
struggle, we gotta get dressedand ready for our day.
(09:54):
Yeah.
Not in jeans and a t-shirt and abaseball cap like I did..
Yeah...
but in the armor of God, becauseit's God's armor that protects
our heart and our mind when lifeis hard, and when we're in a
battle, so that we can hold ontoour hope.
Keidra Hobley (10:07):
Yeah, I, I was turning to the scripture as you
were talking.
Mm-hmm.
And I got here Ephesians chaptersix starting in verse 10.
Finally, be strong in the Lord,in his mighty power.
Put on the full armor of God sothat you can take a stand
against the devil's schemes.
First of all, you gotta put onthe full armor.
I think sometimes..
Mm-hmm...
we'll put on a piece or two.
We're just half dressed.
Yeah, we're half dressed.
We wouldn't leave the house halfdressed, but we'll, we'll leave
(10:29):
the house spiritually halfdressed.
That's right.
Verse 12, for our struggle isnot against flesh and blood, but
against rulers and againstauthorities, against powers in
this dark world and againstspiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms.
And I think that is criticalwhen it comes to hope and
hopelessness that we can't fighta spiritual battle with natural
weapons.
That's right.
We we wrestle not against fleshand blood.
(10:50):
So we need to be aware of that.
Then verse 13, therefore put onthe full armor of God so that
when the day of evil comes, youmay be able to stand your ground
after you've done everything tostand.
Stand firm then with the belt oftruth buckled around your waist.
And that's important for hope.
You know, even when you said youshifted the way you were
thinking..
Mm-hmm...
it helped.
Hopelessness had to flee.
(11:11):
That's right.
That's essentially what you weresaying.
And so that's important.
That's coming from the word.
If we don't know the word, wedon't know how to apply the
word.
Then it says, the breastplate ofrighteousness.
You know the breastplate that'sguarding your heart.
That's right.
You know, when we let theenemies lies into our heart,
that's when hopelessness kicksin.
In addition it says, your feetfitted with the readiness that
(11:33):
comes from the gospel of peace.
When we walk in peace, then wedon't have to be, moving in the
wrong direction towardshopelessness.
Take up the shield of faith.
The shield is what blocks all ofthose fiery darts...
flaming arrows, as thistranslation says, of the evil
ones.
And so when the enemy startsthrowing those arrows of
hopelessness at you, if youdon't have your shield, you have
(11:54):
nothing to guard yourselfagainst those arrows.
And then take the helmet ofsalvation that's on your head.
If you don't have on yourhelmet, then you let all kind of
crazy thoughts in your head.
Then the sword of the spirit,which is the word of God.
Susan Dies (12:07):
That's right.
And at the end of the scripturepassage that you just read, it
said, and then stand.
Mm-hmm.
Stand firm.
Yeah.
Praying.
Come on..
Pray about anything.
Yeah.
Pray about everything...
for ourselves and for others.
This is how we fight ourbattles.
Yeah.
Not just with hopelessness, butevery battle.
We gotta get ready, we gotta getdressed.
(12:28):
We gotta stand firm in thebelief that God is with us, that
he is for us.
We gotta get into his word sothat we can be reminded of
truth...
and we gotta pray.
Mm-hmm.
And this is what takes us fromfeeling hopeless to being hope
filled.
That's good.
And that's what our podcast isall about today.
So let's talk a little bit.
About hope itself.
When you think about the wordhope..
(12:49):
Mm-hmm...
what comes to your mind?
Keidra Hobley (12:51):
Mm, it's trust in God.
Mm-hmm.
I think, hope and trust walkhand in hand.
So, when I trust God, then I canhave hope.
Susan Dies (12:59):
Right.
But what about non-believers?
Mm-hmm.
What would be the worldlydefinition of hope for someone
who doesn't believe in God?
Mm-hmm.
Keidra Hobley (13:07):
I think the thing that comes to my mind is, making
wishes, or putting your faith,your hope, your trust in things
other than God.
For some people it may be theirfinances, their income.
For some it may be their ownability, their giftedness, or
their talents, their skill sets.
I think there's so many thingsand we can fall into that same
(13:28):
trap.
Susan Dies (13:29):
Right.
But real hope depends on Godhimself.
Yeah.
And he never fails.
But even though we know all ofthis...
even when our hope is in God...
it isn't always easy to holdonto hope.
Mm-hmm.
Sometimes life hurts, you know?
Yeah.
Sometimes it can be hard.
Sometimes things can shake ourworld, things that we don't see
coming.
Or maybe kinda like thesituation I mentioned earlier,
(13:51):
you know, we've dealt withsomething for so long...
and it can just be so hard attimes to hold on to hope.
And I know that you're reallystrong in your faith, but I just
wonder, has there ever been atime in your life where you
either began to feel this senseof hopelessness, or you
struggled to hold onto your hopein a difficult time?
Keidra Hobley (14:11):
Yeah.
Well, I don't think that I haveever gotten to the place of
hopelessness.
Mm-hmm.
But definitely I have hadexperiences where the enemy
tried it.
Yeah.
You just weren't going there.
Yeah.
I'm just not gonna follow youthere.
You know, and you can, you cankind of feel it.
You can feel yourself going downin a downward spiral.
You can feel yourself startingto think on things other than
(14:32):
what the Lord tells us to thinkon.
You can feel yourself getting tothat place where you know, woe
is me.
Mm-hmm.
And so when I guess for me, whenI find myself getting to that
place, instead of allowingmyself to fully go there, I do
some intentional things to yankmyself back out of that.
Right.
I, can recall one particulartime.
I caught myself spiraling fast.
(14:53):
Mm-hmm.
Like faster than I wouldnormally spiral.
I did something that I wouldn'tnormally do, and I called
somebody.
Susan Dies (14:59):
And..
So you're used to just handlingit on your own?
On my own, just me and Jesus.
See there I can read your mindalready.
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Keidra Hobley (15:06):
yeah.
And, and finish, finish yoursentences.
So many times we as believers dothat, and that's important.
It is important to take all ofour cares to him.
But then there are other timeswhere yes, it's me and Jesus...
and someone that Jesus hasplaced in our life.
Mm-hmm.
And so I think it's importantthat we're intentional that when
we catch ourselves going to thatplace, that we don't allow
ourselves to remain inisolation.
(15:26):
Right.
Because that's where the devildoes its best work.
Oh yeah.
So, that's what I have found...
that when I find my place,getting to that point where I
could fall into hopelessness.
Mm-hmm.
Nope, devil, you're not havingit.
Not going.
Mm-hmm.
Susan Dies (15:39):
I think we both learned to retrain our thoughts
and center them on the one thatwe know our hope is in.
Yeah.
When I think about how hard itcan be to hold on to hope, I'm
always encouraged by the wordpicture that Hebrews 6:19-20
paints when it says,"We havethis hope..
Mm-hmm...
as an anchor for the soul firmand secure.
(16:00):
It(talking about hope)..
Yeah...
enters the inner sanctuarybehind the curtain, where our
fore runner, Jesus, has enteredon our behalf.
And so an anchor is somethingthat we throw over the side of
the boat into a body of water tokeep a boat from drifting,
right?
Mm-hmm.
Especially when it's inturbulent waters.
Yeah.
And hope does the same thing forour souls, when we are in deep
(16:23):
water so to speak.
Hope keeps our soul fromdrifting, and it holds us steady
even when there's nothing tohold onto.
That's so great because...
think about that anchor that'sdown in the water.
There's nothing for it to holdonto when the water is super
deep and yet it holds that boator that ship.
The point being is that we don'thave to hold onto hope.
(16:44):
Like an anchor, hope holds ontous.
Oh, that's so good.
But where does hope get itsstrength?
It tells us in this verse.
It enters the inner sanctuarybehind the curtain where Jesus
has already entered on ourbehalf.
So our hope, our anchor isattached to Jesus.
Mm-hmm.
He's the one that's holding usin the middle of life storms.
(17:04):
He's the one who keeps us fromdrifting out into deeper waters
of doubt and depression anddespair.
It's our faith in him, and inhis ability to hold onto us.
That's the hope of the believer.
That's so good.
Yeah.
That's so good.
So what about you?
Do you have any favorite versesthat give you strength when
you're needing hope?
Keidra Hobley (17:23):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Jeremiah 17:7 is one of mine.
"Blessed are those who trust inthe Lord and have made the Lord
their hope and confidence." Ithink when we are hopeless we
also lack confidence.
And then the other one is Romans4:18.
Even when there is no reason forhope, Abraham kept hoping and
believing that he would becomethe father of many nations.
(17:46):
So when I start questioning,'okay, Lord, is this ever gonna
come to pass?' That one is myreminder.
Don't stop hoping.
Even though it looks likethere's no reason for hope,
don't stop hoping and don't stopbelieving.
So those are two of myfavorites.
Susan Dies (17:59):
I love that.
I've often said that I don'tknow how people who don't
believe in God, or who don'thave faith, make it through life
storms.
But I was having a conversationwith Brooke the other day, and
she made a great point.
She said, even non-believerslive with hope.
The biggest difference, is wherewe place our hope.
Yeah.
And she said, people who don'tbelieve in God can definitely
(18:20):
get through the hard timeswithout Jesus, because we see
that all the time.
Mm-hmm.
We just can't figure out, asbelievers, how they're doing it.
Yeah.
But likely, they're just relyingon people instead of God.
Mm-hmm.
Or they're relying on copingskills or counseling instead of
God's word.
Mm-hmm.
Or maybe they turn todistractions or achievements,
instead of prayer and faith.
(18:41):
Yeah.
And, through these things, theydo experience hope in the sense
that like believers, they holdonto the hope that things are
gonna work out.
Mm-hmm.
That there will be better daysin the future.
But for the Christian who looksto Jesus as the main source of
our hope and comfort, our hopeis rooted in the belief that not
only will there be better dayshere...
(19:02):
we have an eternity of betterdays coming.
Yeah.
So good.
For the nonbeliever, their hopeis rooted in the temporary
because every person that theyput their hope in is eventually
gonna die.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
Because we all die.
Yeah.
And every thing that they puttheir hope in will eventually
fade or lose its meaning becausenothing this side of heaven
lasts forever.
(19:23):
But for the one who puts theirhope in Jesus..
Yeah...
and in his promises and in thehope of heaven...
that hope is grounded in theeternal.
And so we all have someone orsomething in which we place our
hope.
Yeah.
The question is..
Is that someone or somethingtemporary or eternal?
Because our ability to maintainhope in every circumstance
(19:44):
really depends on who or whatour hope is in.
Mm-hmm.
And so, it's one thing to havehope.
It's another thing to maintainit.
And so how can we do that?
What are some practical waysthat we as believers can
maintain hope and that we canset that example even for the
nonbeliever.
Mm-hmm.
Keidra Hobley (20:02):
I think we already mentioned one and just
being mindful of what we'rethinking about.
That's right.
Just think on the things thatthe Lord says to think about.
And then also I think we need tomake it a priority to rest.
Hmm.
That's a great one.
Even, even God rested.
That's right.
You know, and so sometimes wejust become hopeless because
we're trying to work so hard inour own strength that we forget
(20:23):
to rest in him.
Mm-hmm.
Romans 15:13 says,"May the Godof hope fill you with all joy
and peace as you trust in him..
Mm-hmm...
so that you may overflow withhope by the power of his spirit.
So just taking comfort in theLord..
Mm-hmm...
is huge.
Like that's the job of the HolySpirit.
Yeah.
He's our comforter.
He is our comforter.
(20:43):
But we don't always let himcomfort us.
And that's it.
And that's when we lose hoperight there.
Mm-hmm.
So that, that's a good one.
What do you think?
Susan Dies (20:50):
I think about second Corinthians 5:7 that says,"For
we walk by faith and not bysight." Mm-hmm.
So we need to move forward infaith.
Mm-hmm.
I think that's a big one.
I think Romans 5:3-4, where ittalks about how the sufferings
that we go through, that Goduses those to teach us to
persevere, and that perseverancebuilds character, and character
(21:14):
leads to hope, and hope does notdisappoint.
So in that, I would say justallow God to use the difficult
things that we go through astimes to transform and shape our
character to be more and morelike Jesus.
And then offering a sacrifice ofpraise.
Yeah, that's a good one.
That's a beautiful turn ofphrase if you think about it...
a sacrifice of praise.
(21:35):
Hebrews 13:15 says,"ThroughJesus..
Mm-hmm...
let us continually offer to Goda sacrifice of praise.
The fruit of lips, that openlyprofesses name.
So even if our circumstances aredire.
Mm-hmm...
if they're terrible...
if we just can't see a way up ora way out and it's just complete
darkness, we still havesomething to hope for..
(21:56):
Mm-hmm...
because we have Jesus.
Yeah.
And if we have Jesus, even ifthe worst of the worst happens
on this side of heaven, which weconsider to be death..
Mm-hmm...
for the believer, we're justgonna close our eyes here on
Earth..
Yeah.
And we're gonna open them..
Mm-hmm...
in heaven looking into the faceour savior and heaven.
The, the word says...
"Eye has not seen..
Yeah...
and ear has not heard, nor hasit even entered into the heart
(22:20):
of man.
Yeah.
Like we can't even imagine whatGod has prepared..
Mm-hmm...
for those who love him." Yeah.
I think that's a verse that'sfilled with a lot of hope.
Keidra Hobley (22:28):
That's so good.
I wanna circle back...
'cause when you said in Hebrews13:15 to offer a sacrifice of
praise...
it explained to us what praiseis.
Hmm.
Praise is the fruit of our lips.
Hmm.
That openly professes his name.
Right.
Come on.
You gotta open your mouth.
Mm-hmm.
Praise is a fruit of our lips.
Right.
(22:48):
And so you cannot praise theLord out loud and remain in
those same negative thoughts atthe same time.
So we gotta...
okay...
I am getting, I'm getting firedup.
Lemme calm down.
But we have to open our mouthand praise him..
That's right..
Aloud.
Yes.
Out loud.
And that will help to restoreyour hope.
Susan Dies (23:06):
Right.
And what makes it a sacrifice...
is when you're going throughhard times, it's the last thing
we wanna do.
Mm-hmm.
We just wanna draw inward.
Yeah.
And we sometimes just wanna stayin it.
Yeah.
And yet the praise for our Lord,the fruit of our lips, as you
just said...
that's the thing..
Yeah...
that's gonna change it.
Yeah.
Even in the circumstance I wastalking about...
(23:28):
just the shift in the way that Iwas speaking..
Mm-hmm...
from the negative to thepositive.
Yeah.
And then who I was speaking to.
Yeah.
Instead of talking to my sisteror my husband, I thought, I need
to talk to Jesus.
Mm-hmm.
And so it's just all of theselittle things that we can do.
Keidra Hobley (23:44):
Can I, can I talk to the believer real quick
before you move on to the nextthing?
Because when we get to thatplace of hopelessness, we start
to have thoughts like, oh, Idon't even wanna go to church
today.
Hmm.
Yep.
And for some of us,unfortunately, that's the only
place that we are willing toopen our mouth to offer a
sacrifice of praise.
Hmm.
So even more so, we should begoing to church when we feel
(24:04):
like we're getting to a place ofhopelessness.
So if that's you...
and you have stayed home becauseof how you feel..
Just to show the devil that hedoes not have a hold on you..
Amen.
I encourage you and I challengeyou.
Go back to church.
Get up.
Amen.
Go back to church.
Amen.
In Jesus name.
Amen.
Susan Dies (24:19):
You know, we've been talking about what it looks like
to have hope, but I wanna changegears just a little bit..
Okay...
as we're coming to the end ofour time together today...
to just really speak directly tothose who may have lost hope.
Mm-hmm.
Because I know that there aremany people out there who are
facing circumstances in lifethat are just so overwhelming
and they just can't fathom howthings could ever get better.
(24:41):
But no hope is not the worstplace to be...
because it's often when we cometo this place in our life where
we think there is no hope..
Yeah...
we've tried everything, we'vedone everything we can think to
do in our own strength.
We've exhausted all of our ownresources, including ourselves,
and probably the people closestto us, and we come to the end of
ourselves.
(25:01):
That's when we're most open, alot of times, to turning to God.
It's often when we have nothingleft but God that we finally
turn to him and realize he'sbeen there all along.
Yeah.
And that he loves us far morethan we could ever imagine.
That he's been waiting for us toturn to him so that he can pour
out his love on us and show usthat the hope that we so
(25:21):
desperately need is found inhim.
And so our hope for you today isthat you'll turn to him..
Yeah...
for the hope that you need.
And he may not immediatelychange the circumstances..
Right...
but if we will fix our eyes onJesus, he will fill our hearts
with the hope and the peace andthe joy that we need as we wait.
Keidra, do you have any finalthoughts, any words of hope for
(25:43):
our listeners who are feeling abit hopeless today?
Keidra Hobley (25:46):
I just wanna encourage you with, keep your
mind focused on Jesus.
I know that sounds a littlecliche, but it's so true.
And be conscious of what youthink about.
Know that he will lead you,guide you, orchestrate your
steps.
Those steps of the righteous areordered of the Lord.
Just continuing...
I love that...
to be obedient to his currentinstruction and stop worrying
(26:07):
about how you're gonna get tothe future destination.
Be encouraged in the Lord.
Know that he will lead you intowhat he has for you tomorrow.
Susan Dies (26:14):
I love that.
Well, we're out of time today,but if you were encouraged by
what you heard, please share thelink to our podcast with others
so that they too can beencouraged.
And if you have an extra minute,we'd love to hear from you.
You can leave us a comment, arating, or a review right from
the platform that you use tostream our podcast.
And so thank you again forlistening.
Keidra, would you pray for us aswe close today?
Keidra Hobley (26:36):
Absolutely.
Father, we thank you so muchthat you are faithful, that you
are where we find our hope.
Help us to keep our faith andtrust in you and you alone.
Mm-hmm.
Father, forgive us for anythingor anyone else we've attempted
to place our hope in andtherefore have been
disappointed.
Lord, help us to continue to puton our full armor daily.
(26:56):
Dear Lord, show us where we haveallowed access to the enemy,
allow us to repent, and to moveforward in full confidence that
you are our hope.
We thank you for it.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Amen.
Welcome to the one Yes at A Time podcast.
(00:01):
My name is Susan Dies and I'mhere with my co-host, Keidra
Hobley, and today we're talkingabout something that I believe
is gonna be an encouragement toeveryone who takes the time to
listen...
because today we're talkingabout hope...
and Keidra, hope is somethingthat every human being needs.
Absolutely.
And the Bible tells us in onePeter 3:15 to"Always be prepared
(00:22):
to give a reason for the hope wehave in Jesus"...
and that's what we're hoping todo today.
Keidra Hobley (00:26):
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
And that is so important becausewe all need hope as you said.
Susan Dies (00:31):
We do.
In fact, this past week as I wasdoing some reading on this topic
of hope, I came across aninteresting article that was
published in June of 2025.
It was a study done byresearchers at the University of
Missouri and Columbia, and itincluded more than 2300
participants.
And in this study, researchersanalyzed a number of different
(00:51):
positive emotions that we ashuman beings desire to
experience.
Some were amusement andentertainment.
Mm-hmm.
Top of the list.
Yep.
Contentment...
excitement...
happiness, hope, and gratitude.
And what they found is that outof all these different emotions,
hope was the only emotion thatconsistently predicted that
(01:12):
people would also feel thattheir life had meaning.
It also showed that people wholive with hope enjoy better
health.
They have an overall greatersense of wellbeing...
and they have more satisfyingrelationships.
And so the bottom line is thateven more than contentment, even
more than happiness andgratitude, what people need is
hope.
Does that surprise you?
Keidra Hobley (01:32):
It does not surprise me, but I would not
have thought that that would'vebeen the top of the list like it
was...
and what really stood out to mejust then when you said that is
the connection betweenhopelessness and health.
That really hit me.
So sometimes I think when wefind ourselves in a place of
being unhealthy..
Uhhuh...
whether it's physically,mentally, emotionally,
(01:53):
socially...
we may need to look and seewhere we lost hope.
Wow.
Yeah.
Susan Dies (01:58):
That's a great thought.
Why do you think that out of allthese different emotions that
they studied, that hope was theone that predicted whether or
not someone would feel thattheir life has meaning?
Keidra Hobley (02:10):
Because hope is attached to purpose.
Purpose isn't automaticallyfulfilled, and so it takes hope
to continue to believe that youwill fulfill the purpose for
which the Lord has created you.
Susan Dies (02:23):
Something that came to my mind is that in
Ecclesiastes 3:11 it says Godhas made everything beautiful in
its time." In its time.
Yeah.
And that's the hope that weneed.
Mm-hmm.
And that somehow, no matter whatwe go through in this life, that
God will do exactly as hepromised in Isaiah 61...
that we will trade poverty forwealth..
Mm-hmm...
(02:43):
shame for joy...
mourning for dancing...
ashes for beauty.
I think that's my favorite one.
Yeah.
That's the comfort.
That's the promise.
That's the hope...
that somehow God will take eventhe bad things in life and, in
time, somehow make somethingbeautiful out of that.
And only God can do that.
And all we have to do is look tothe cross to know that that's
(03:04):
true.
Keidra Hobley (03:04):
Yeah.
When you said ashes for beauty,I think so many times we want
the beauty..
Mm...
but we don't wanna have toendure the ashes.
You're right.
Yeah.
And so that's where hope comesin, because when you're in the
midst of those ashes, you haveto be hopeful knowing that, that
will be exchanged for beauty.
Susan Dies (03:20):
I love that.
It also says at the end of thatsame verse, that"God has set
eternity in the human heart." Sothis means that every single
person is born with a God-givenawareness that there is
something more to this life...
that God has hardwired us ashuman beings to put our hope in
the eternal.
Mm-hmm.
Don't you find that interesting?
Keidra Hobley (03:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it is in the looking towardseternity that we have to have
hope because that's long term.
That's right.
That's end game, you know?
And if we were looking at justthe day to day without keeping
in sight eternity, then we willlose hope.
Susan Dies (03:55):
We will.
In fact, I think he did that onpurpose because he knows that
there are many hopes that we'llnever be fulfilled this side of
heaven..
Mm-hmm...
in this life.
People are still gonna get sickand die.
Tragic things are still gonnahappen that cause us to question
everything we ever thought weknew.
Yeah.
Unforeseen circumstances aregonna shake our world...
but when our hope is in God,regardless of what we face in
(04:17):
this life, God has promised tomake everything, even the worst
things, beautiful in its time.
And that's the hope that weneed.
Keidra Hobley (04:24):
Yeah.
That's so good.
Susan Dies (04:25):
You know, whether somebody is a believer or not,
it actually makes sense to methat hope would be the one that
we would need...
not necessarily the one that wemight want the most..
Mm-hmm...
but the one that we need...
because hope is necessary, ifyou think about it, for us to
experience all the otherpositive emotions that they
analyzed.
Like you can't be happy andhopeless at the same time.
Right, right.
That's true.
(04:46):
You can't be content or gratefulor excited and be hopeless at
the same time.
Yeah.
And if you're hopeless, you'recertainly not gonna care about
being amused or entertained.
Mm-hmm.
People who are hopeless reallydon't care that much about
anything.
And so this is a prettyimportant topic..
Yeah...
that we're covering today.
Keidra Hobley (05:02):
Yeah.
And you said that, um,believer...
or nonbeliever...
we all need hope.
That's, I think's it's veryinteresting, that for a
nonbeliever, you know, sometimeswe as believers will look at a
nonbeliever and it looks as ifthey are having a better life
than we are.
And I think, you know, that itreminded me that they're putting
their hope in something..
Mm-hmm...
whereas we are to put our hopein someone.
(05:25):
And so if we take our eyes offJesus, that's when we get
hopeless...
but they're not taking theireyes off of their thing,
whatever that is thing is thatthey're putting their hope in...
and therefore, they'recontinuing to pursue the things
that they are seeking.
Does that make sense?
Susan Dies (05:39):
And so it appears that they have more hope than
they actually do.
That's right.
Mm-hmm.
I've been thinking a lot abouthope recently, and I've found
that over the years that I'vebeen teaching, whenever I'm
preparing to talk aboutsomething or teach on a topic,
the Lord will give me anopportunity to put whatever I'm
teaching into practice.
Okay.
Have you had that same thing?
Keidra Hobley (05:59):
All the time.
Susan Dies (05:59):
Maybe it's just to keep me honest so that when I
teach I can honestly say thatI've experienced this particular
thing that we're wrestling with,at least to some degree.
And a few days ago I was talkingwith one of my sisters about an
issue that we've been prayingabout for years.
A situation that if we'rehonest, has only gotten worse,
instead of better over theyears...
and we have prayed...
(06:21):
and prayed...
and prayed some more, and yetthe situation actually seems
more hopeless today than ever.
And it's in these times...
when things seem to get worseand not better, when so much
time has passed with nosignificant change in
circumstances, that we can beginto feel hopeless.
Like, yeah, what is the point incontinuing to pray?
Yeah.
Is God even listening?
(06:41):
Does God care what I'm goingthrough?
If God is sovereign, and we bothknow that he is, why doesn't he
do something?
And as she and I were talking, Icould feel myself getting in a
bad mood.
Mm-hmm.
Like I was just feelingfrustrated about this situation
that I can't fix.
Frustrated that the situationhasn't changed, and if I'm
(07:02):
honest, frustrated that Godhasn't done something.
Yeah, of course.
I know that it's not my job tofix it, and I do know that God
is working in the situation, butthe more we talked about it
just...
the more irritable I felt andthe more I struggled to speak
words of hope...
which is interesting becausethis is what we were getting
ready to talk about.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so I knew that she neededhope and not my irritability...
(07:25):
and so I finally just got offthe phone...
and then I began to talk to myhusband about it.
Mm-hmm.
And the more I talked about it,the more hopeless the situation
seemed, to the point that I evensaid out loud, it's never gonna
change.
And I even said, I cancompletely understand why people
can feel so hopeless.
And in the middle of thisconversation with David, I
(07:46):
realized that a sense ofhopelessness was exactly what I
was experiencing.
I was thinking negativethoughts.
Yeah.
I was speaking negative wordsand all that negative talk only
reinforced..
Yeah...
what I was feeling.
And in that moment I realizedthat Satan had my number.
You know what I mean?
Ah, yeah.
Like he dialed 4 1 1 and Ipicked up and I gave him all the
information he needed...
(08:08):
by the words coming out of mymouth...
to know exactly how todiscourage me.
Yeah.
I did that to myself.
Yeah.
And then also to get me to doubtthat God was at work and to
believe that things were nevergonna change.
Mm-hmm.
But as soon as I recognized thatthis wrestling in my spirit
wasn't really a wrestling withmy doubts about God...
but rather a wrestling in myspirit with Satan..
(08:29):
Yeah...
who wanted me to doubt God...
just that fast I thought tomyself, I'm not about to give
Satan this victory.
That's right.
And literally in the middle of asentence, in my conversation
with David, I said, you knowwhat?
I really don't wanna talk aboutthis anymore.
What I need to do is I need togo get ready for my day.
Mm-hmm.
And I need to spend some time inprayer.
And that's exactly what I did.
(08:50):
And interestingly, the momentthat I consciously changed my
focus to something good..
Yeah...
which was to get ready for myday, go meet my mom and one of
my other sisters for breakfast,which is something we do every
Saturday..
Yeah...
and I began to talk to Jesusabout what I was feeling...
just that change of focus, justthat intentional time spent with
(09:11):
Jesus in prayer, and then timewith people who I knew would
make me laugh..
Mm-hmm...
almost immediately there was ashift in my spirit, and my mood
began to change, and I began tofeel more hopeful again.
And what I realized in thatmoment is that hopelessness is
an inner spiritual battle thatrages in the heart and mind, and
it can only be fought withspiritual weapons.
(09:33):
Yeah.
But we gotta recognize it forthe spiritual battle that it is.
Like God's word tells us we haveto guard our hearts.
It tells us what kinds ofthoughts that we need to dwell
on.
Yeah.
It tells us where to go and whatto do when we're struggling.
It also tells us in Ephesians6:10-18 that when we're in a
struggle, we gotta get dressedand ready for our day.
(09:54):
Yeah.
Not in jeans and a t-shirt and abaseball cap like I did..
Yeah...
but in the armor of God, becauseit's God's armor that protects
our heart and our mind when lifeis hard, and when we're in a
battle, so that we can hold ontoour hope.
Keidra Hobley (10:07):
Yeah, I, I was turning to the scripture as you
were talking.
Mm-hmm.
And I got here Ephesians chaptersix starting in verse 10.
Finally, be strong in the Lord,in his mighty power.
Put on the full armor of God sothat you can take a stand
against the devil's schemes.
First of all, you gotta put onthe full armor.
I think sometimes..
Mm-hmm...
we'll put on a piece or two.
We're just half dressed.
Yeah, we're half dressed.
We wouldn't leave the house halfdressed, but we'll, we'll leave
(10:29):
the house spiritually halfdressed.
That's right.
Verse 12, for our struggle isnot against flesh and blood, but
against rulers and againstauthorities, against powers in
this dark world and againstspiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms.
And I think that is criticalwhen it comes to hope and
hopelessness that we can't fighta spiritual battle with natural
weapons.
That's right.
We we wrestle not against fleshand blood.
(10:50):
So we need to be aware of that.
Then verse 13, therefore put onthe full armor of God so that
when the day of evil comes, youmay be able to stand your ground
after you've done everything tostand.
Stand firm then with the belt oftruth buckled around your waist.
And that's important for hope.
You know, even when you said youshifted the way you were
thinking..
Mm-hmm...
it helped.
Hopelessness had to flee.
(11:11):
That's right.
That's essentially what you weresaying.
And so that's important.
That's coming from the word.
If we don't know the word, wedon't know how to apply the
word.
Then it says, the breastplate ofrighteousness.
You know the breastplate that'sguarding your heart.
That's right.
You know, when we let theenemies lies into our heart,
that's when hopelessness kicksin.
In addition it says, your feetfitted with the readiness that
(11:33):
comes from the gospel of peace.
When we walk in peace, then wedon't have to be, moving in the
wrong direction towardshopelessness.
Take up the shield of faith.
The shield is what blocks all ofthose fiery darts...
flaming arrows, as thistranslation says, of the evil
ones.
And so when the enemy startsthrowing those arrows of
hopelessness at you, if youdon't have your shield, you have
(11:54):
nothing to guard yourselfagainst those arrows.
And then take the helmet ofsalvation that's on your head.
If you don't have on yourhelmet, then you let all kind of
crazy thoughts in your head.
Then the sword of the spirit,which is the word of God.
Susan Dies (12:07):
That's right.
And at the end of the scripturepassage that you just read, it
said, and then stand.
Mm-hmm.
Stand firm.
Yeah.
Praying.
Come on..
Pray about anything.
Yeah.
Pray about everything...
for ourselves and for others.
This is how we fight ourbattles.
Yeah.
Not just with hopelessness, butevery battle.
We gotta get ready, we gotta getdressed.
(12:28):
We gotta stand firm in thebelief that God is with us, that
he is for us.
We gotta get into his word sothat we can be reminded of
truth...
and we gotta pray.
Mm-hmm.
And this is what takes us fromfeeling hopeless to being hope
filled.
That's good.
And that's what our podcast isall about today.
So let's talk a little bit.
About hope itself.
When you think about the wordhope..
(12:49):
Mm-hmm...
what comes to your mind?
Keidra Hobley (12:51):
Mm, it's trust in God.
Mm-hmm.
I think, hope and trust walkhand in hand.
So, when I trust God, then I canhave hope.
Susan Dies (12:59):
Right.
But what about non-believers?
Mm-hmm.
What would be the worldlydefinition of hope for someone
who doesn't believe in God?
Mm-hmm.
Keidra Hobley (13:07):
I think the thing that comes to my mind is, making
wishes, or putting your faith,your hope, your trust in things
other than God.
For some people it may be theirfinances, their income.
For some it may be their ownability, their giftedness, or
their talents, their skill sets.
I think there's so many thingsand we can fall into that same
(13:28):
trap.
Susan Dies (13:29):
Right.
But real hope depends on Godhimself.
Yeah.
And he never fails.
But even though we know all ofthis...
even when our hope is in God...
it isn't always easy to holdonto hope.
Mm-hmm.
Sometimes life hurts, you know?
Yeah.
Sometimes it can be hard.
Sometimes things can shake ourworld, things that we don't see
coming.
Or maybe kinda like thesituation I mentioned earlier,
(13:51):
you know, we've dealt withsomething for so long...
and it can just be so hard attimes to hold on to hope.
And I know that you're reallystrong in your faith, but I just
wonder, has there ever been atime in your life where you
either began to feel this senseof hopelessness, or you
struggled to hold onto your hopein a difficult time?
Keidra Hobley (14:11):
Yeah.
Well, I don't think that I haveever gotten to the place of
hopelessness.
Mm-hmm.
But definitely I have hadexperiences where the enemy
tried it.
Yeah.
You just weren't going there.
Yeah.
I'm just not gonna follow youthere.
You know, and you can, you cankind of feel it.
You can feel yourself going downin a downward spiral.
You can feel yourself startingto think on things other than
(14:32):
what the Lord tells us to thinkon.
You can feel yourself getting tothat place where you know, woe
is me.
Mm-hmm.
And so when I guess for me, whenI find myself getting to that
place, instead of allowingmyself to fully go there, I do
some intentional things to yankmyself back out of that.
Right.
I, can recall one particulartime.
I caught myself spiraling fast.
(14:53):
Mm-hmm.
Like faster than I wouldnormally spiral.
I did something that I wouldn'tnormally do, and I called
somebody.
Susan Dies (14:59):
And..
So you're used to just handlingit on your own?
On my own, just me and Jesus.
See there I can read your mindalready.
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Keidra Hobley (15:06):
yeah.
And, and finish, finish yoursentences.
So many times we as believers dothat, and that's important.
It is important to take all ofour cares to him.
But then there are other timeswhere yes, it's me and Jesus...
and someone that Jesus hasplaced in our life.
Mm-hmm.
And so I think it's importantthat we're intentional that when
we catch ourselves going to thatplace, that we don't allow
ourselves to remain inisolation.
(15:26):
Right.
Because that's where the devildoes its best work.
Oh yeah.
So, that's what I have found...
that when I find my place,getting to that point where I
could fall into hopelessness.
Mm-hmm.
Nope, devil, you're not havingit.
Not going.
Mm-hmm.
Susan Dies (15:39):
I think we both learned to retrain our thoughts
and center them on the one thatwe know our hope is in.
Yeah.
When I think about how hard itcan be to hold on to hope, I'm
always encouraged by the wordpicture that Hebrews 6:19-20
paints when it says,"We havethis hope..
Mm-hmm...
as an anchor for the soul firmand secure.
(16:00):
It(talking about hope)..
Yeah...
enters the inner sanctuarybehind the curtain, where our
fore runner, Jesus, has enteredon our behalf.
And so an anchor is somethingthat we throw over the side of
the boat into a body of water tokeep a boat from drifting,
right?
Mm-hmm.
Especially when it's inturbulent waters.
Yeah.
And hope does the same thing forour souls, when we are in deep
(16:23):
water so to speak.
Hope keeps our soul fromdrifting, and it holds us steady
even when there's nothing tohold onto.
That's so great because...
think about that anchor that'sdown in the water.
There's nothing for it to holdonto when the water is super
deep and yet it holds that boator that ship.
The point being is that we don'thave to hold onto hope.
(16:44):
Like an anchor, hope holds ontous.
Oh, that's so good.
But where does hope get itsstrength?
It tells us in this verse.
It enters the inner sanctuarybehind the curtain where Jesus
has already entered on ourbehalf.
So our hope, our anchor isattached to Jesus.
Mm-hmm.
He's the one that's holding usin the middle of life storms.
(17:04):
He's the one who keeps us fromdrifting out into deeper waters
of doubt and depression anddespair.
It's our faith in him, and inhis ability to hold onto us.
That's the hope of the believer.
That's so good.
Yeah.
That's so good.
So what about you?
Do you have any favorite versesthat give you strength when
you're needing hope?
Keidra Hobley (17:23):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Jeremiah 17:7 is one of mine.
"Blessed are those who trust inthe Lord and have made the Lord
their hope and confidence." Ithink when we are hopeless we
also lack confidence.
And then the other one is Romans4:18.
Even when there is no reason forhope, Abraham kept hoping and
believing that he would becomethe father of many nations.
(17:46):
So when I start questioning,'okay, Lord, is this ever gonna
come to pass?' That one is myreminder.
Don't stop hoping.
Even though it looks likethere's no reason for hope,
don't stop hoping and don't stopbelieving.
So those are two of myfavorites.
Susan Dies (17:59):
I love that.
I've often said that I don'tknow how people who don't
believe in God, or who don'thave faith, make it through life
storms.
But I was having a conversationwith Brooke the other day, and
she made a great point.
She said, even non-believerslive with hope.
The biggest difference, is wherewe place our hope.
Yeah.
And she said, people who don'tbelieve in God can definitely
(18:20):
get through the hard timeswithout Jesus, because we see
that all the time.
Mm-hmm.
We just can't figure out, asbelievers, how they're doing it.
Yeah.
But likely, they're just relyingon people instead of God.
Mm-hmm.
Or they're relying on copingskills or counseling instead of
God's word.
Mm-hmm.
Or maybe they turn todistractions or achievements,
instead of prayer and faith.
(18:41):
Yeah.
And, through these things, theydo experience hope in the sense
that like believers, they holdonto the hope that things are
gonna work out.
Mm-hmm.
That there will be better daysin the future.
But for the Christian who looksto Jesus as the main source of
our hope and comfort, our hopeis rooted in the belief that not
only will there be better dayshere...
(19:02):
we have an eternity of betterdays coming.
Yeah.
So good.
For the nonbeliever, their hopeis rooted in the temporary
because every person that theyput their hope in is eventually
gonna die.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
Because we all die.
Yeah.
And every thing that they puttheir hope in will eventually
fade or lose its meaning becausenothing this side of heaven
lasts forever.
(19:23):
But for the one who puts theirhope in Jesus..
Yeah...
and in his promises and in thehope of heaven...
that hope is grounded in theeternal.
And so we all have someone orsomething in which we place our
hope.
Yeah.
The question is..
Is that someone or somethingtemporary or eternal?
Because our ability to maintainhope in every circumstance
(19:44):
really depends on who or whatour hope is in.
Mm-hmm.
And so, it's one thing to havehope.
It's another thing to maintainit.
And so how can we do that?
What are some practical waysthat we as believers can
maintain hope and that we canset that example even for the
nonbeliever.
Mm-hmm.
Keidra Hobley (20:02):
I think we already mentioned one and just
being mindful of what we'rethinking about.
That's right.
Just think on the things thatthe Lord says to think about.
And then also I think we need tomake it a priority to rest.
Hmm.
That's a great one.
Even, even God rested.
That's right.
You know, and so sometimes wejust become hopeless because
we're trying to work so hard inour own strength that we forget
(20:23):
to rest in him.
Mm-hmm.
Romans 15:13 says,"May the Godof hope fill you with all joy
and peace as you trust in him..
Mm-hmm...
so that you may overflow withhope by the power of his spirit.
So just taking comfort in theLord..
Mm-hmm...
is huge.
Like that's the job of the HolySpirit.
Yeah.
He's our comforter.
He is our comforter.
(20:43):
But we don't always let himcomfort us.
And that's it.
And that's when we lose hoperight there.
Mm-hmm.
So that, that's a good one.
What do you think?
Susan Dies (20:50):
I think about second Corinthians 5:7 that says,"For
we walk by faith and not bysight." Mm-hmm.
So we need to move forward infaith.
Mm-hmm.
I think that's a big one.
I think Romans 5:3-4, where ittalks about how the sufferings
that we go through, that Goduses those to teach us to
persevere, and that perseverancebuilds character, and character
(21:14):
leads to hope, and hope does notdisappoint.
So in that, I would say justallow God to use the difficult
things that we go through astimes to transform and shape our
character to be more and morelike Jesus.
And then offering a sacrifice ofpraise.
Yeah, that's a good one.
That's a beautiful turn ofphrase if you think about it...
a sacrifice of praise.
(21:35):
Hebrews 13:15 says,"ThroughJesus..
Mm-hmm...
let us continually offer to Goda sacrifice of praise.
The fruit of lips, that openlyprofesses name.
So even if our circumstances aredire.
Mm-hmm...
if they're terrible...
if we just can't see a way up ora way out and it's just complete
darkness, we still havesomething to hope for..
(21:56):
Mm-hmm...
because we have Jesus.
Yeah.
And if we have Jesus, even ifthe worst of the worst happens
on this side of heaven, which weconsider to be death..
Mm-hmm...
for the believer, we're justgonna close our eyes here on
Earth..
Yeah.
And we're gonna open them..
Mm-hmm...
in heaven looking into the faceour savior and heaven.
The, the word says...
"Eye has not seen..
Yeah...
and ear has not heard, nor hasit even entered into the heart
(22:20):
of man.
Yeah.
Like we can't even imagine whatGod has prepared..
Mm-hmm...
for those who love him." Yeah.
I think that's a verse that'sfilled with a lot of hope.
Keidra Hobley (22:28):
That's so good.
I wanna circle back...
'cause when you said in Hebrews13:15 to offer a sacrifice of
praise...
it explained to us what praiseis.
Hmm.
Praise is the fruit of our lips.
Hmm.
That openly professes his name.
Right.
Come on.
You gotta open your mouth.
Mm-hmm.
Praise is a fruit of our lips.
Right.
(22:48):
And so you cannot praise theLord out loud and remain in
those same negative thoughts atthe same time.
So we gotta...
okay...
I am getting, I'm getting firedup.
Lemme calm down.
But we have to open our mouthand praise him..
That's right..
Aloud.
Yes.
Out loud.
And that will help to restoreyour hope.
Susan Dies (23:06):
Right.
And what makes it a sacrifice...
is when you're going throughhard times, it's the last thing
we wanna do.
Mm-hmm.
We just wanna draw inward.
Yeah.
And we sometimes just wanna stayin it.
Yeah.
And yet the praise for our Lord,the fruit of our lips, as you
just said...
that's the thing..
Yeah...
that's gonna change it.
Yeah.
Even in the circumstance I wastalking about...
(23:28):
just the shift in the way that Iwas speaking..
Mm-hmm...
from the negative to thepositive.
Yeah.
And then who I was speaking to.
Yeah.
Instead of talking to my sisteror my husband, I thought, I need
to talk to Jesus.
Mm-hmm.
And so it's just all of theselittle things that we can do.
Keidra Hobley (23:44):
Can I, can I talk to the believer real quick
before you move on to the nextthing?
Because when we get to thatplace of hopelessness, we start
to have thoughts like, oh, Idon't even wanna go to church
today.
Hmm.
Yep.
And for some of us,unfortunately, that's the only
place that we are willing toopen our mouth to offer a
sacrifice of praise.
Hmm.
So even more so, we should begoing to church when we feel
(24:04):
like we're getting to a place ofhopelessness.
So if that's you...
and you have stayed home becauseof how you feel..
Just to show the devil that hedoes not have a hold on you..
Amen.
I encourage you and I challengeyou.
Go back to church.
Get up.
Amen.
Go back to church.
Amen.
In Jesus name.
Amen.
Susan Dies (24:19):
You know, we've been talking about what it looks like
to have hope, but I wanna changegears just a little bit..
Okay...
as we're coming to the end ofour time together today...
to just really speak directly tothose who may have lost hope.
Mm-hmm.
Because I know that there aremany people out there who are
facing circumstances in lifethat are just so overwhelming
and they just can't fathom howthings could ever get better.
(24:41):
But no hope is not the worstplace to be...
because it's often when we cometo this place in our life where
we think there is no hope..
Yeah...
we've tried everything, we'vedone everything we can think to
do in our own strength.
We've exhausted all of our ownresources, including ourselves,
and probably the people closestto us, and we come to the end of
ourselves.
(25:01):
That's when we're most open, alot of times, to turning to God.
It's often when we have nothingleft but God that we finally
turn to him and realize he'sbeen there all along.
Yeah.
And that he loves us far morethan we could ever imagine.
That he's been waiting for us toturn to him so that he can pour
out his love on us and show usthat the hope that we so
(25:21):
desperately need is found inhim.
And so our hope for you today isthat you'll turn to him..
Yeah...
for the hope that you need.
And he may not immediatelychange the circumstances..
Right...
but if we will fix our eyes onJesus, he will fill our hearts
with the hope and the peace andthe joy that we need as we wait.
Keidra, do you have any finalthoughts, any words of hope for
(25:43):
our listeners who are feeling abit hopeless today?
Keidra Hobley (25:46):
I just wanna encourage you with, keep your
mind focused on Jesus.
I know that sounds a littlecliche, but it's so true.
And be conscious of what youthink about.
Know that he will lead you,guide you, orchestrate your
steps.
Those steps of the righteous areordered of the Lord.
Just continuing...
I love that...
to be obedient to his currentinstruction and stop worrying
(26:07):
about how you're gonna get tothe future destination.
Be encouraged in the Lord.
Know that he will lead you intowhat he has for you tomorrow.
Susan Dies (26:14):
I love that.
Well, we're out of time today,but if you were encouraged by
what you heard, please share thelink to our podcast with others
so that they too can beencouraged.
And if you have an extra minute,we'd love to hear from you.
You can leave us a comment, arating, or a review right from
the platform that you use tostream our podcast.
And so thank you again forlistening.
Keidra, would you pray for us aswe close today?
Keidra Hobley (26:36):
Absolutely.
Father, we thank you so muchthat you are faithful, that you
are where we find our hope.
Help us to keep our faith andtrust in you and you alone.
Mm-hmm.
Father, forgive us for anythingor anyone else we've attempted
to place our hope in andtherefore have been
disappointed.
Lord, help us to continue to puton our full armor daily.
(26:56):
Dear Lord, show us where we haveallowed access to the enemy,
allow us to repent, and to moveforward in full confidence that
you are our hope.
We thank you for it.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Amen.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.