How to Have Hope in the Difficult Seasons of Life

February came in waves of smoky grey. Patches of blackened snow lined the country roads, and overcast skies cast dim shadows. I was desperate for a quiet reminder about how to have hope when life feels bleak.

The aging farmer down the road hadn’t left his house in weeks.

I missed the stark contrast of his blaze-orange stocking cap against the beige landscape.

I thought of the farmer as I admitted it to myself on a quiet Saturday morning: I struggle to find hope in winter. The combination of darkness and coldness pushes our family inside. Grace grows thin.

I went to the woods to find hope on a monochrome afternoon. Beneath the oaks, my mind drifted to the words penned by Henry David Thoreau: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” (101).

Find Your Own Secret for How to Have Hope in the Hard Seasons

I go to the woods when the struggles of life wear on me. The canopy above and the millions of microcosms of life below heal my wounded soul.

I breathe in life in the woods. Slowing down reminds me how to live deliberately in the rushing world of people and commerce and cement. I need this.

You need this too.

You need a place to remind you how to have hope when life is hard.

It might be the woods, the gym, a quiet coffee shop, or a room in your house.

Find this place, and go there when you need hope in life.

I looked to the trees that gray afternoon.

They stood with skeletal silence, staring at the firmament. The only sign of life was a pin oak tree. It held onto its russet leaves like a mother who just can’t let her children go. Or maybe the leaves were the ones holding on.

I pondered it, thinking of Christ’s words about abiding:

“If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned” (John 15:6).

We find hope when we cling to the One who brings life. When the hard seasons come, we follow the oak leaves: We cling to the life-source.

How to Have Hope in the Darkest Seasons

I spent years of my life clinging to the life-source of circumstances.

Sadly, circumstantial hope fails us when life goes off the tracks.

We find lasting hope when we cling to an unchanging Source.

Dear friend, Jesus is the only life-source who will never change.

You cling to the Source by clinging to his love, believing in his love, and living in the realization of his love with a sheer refusal to let go.

How to Have Hope That Doesn’t Move

I walk farther, passing a small grove of oaks, all bearing their weathered leaves with the solemn stance of mourners at a funeral. Refusing to let go. And this is when it hits me: It’s not up to the leaves to hold on.

If it were up to the leaves, every tree would bear their ginger winter foliage.

It’s the steadfastness of the oak tree that refuses to let go of the leaves.

I don’t know where your life is hard today. But my hope is that you’ll seize the lesson of the oak leaves. If you want to know how to have hope that lasts, cling to the One who brought you forth, but remember this: His grip on you is far stronger than your grip on him.

Place your hope in this promise: Life might get worse before it gets better. But your hope is not in your circumstances. Your hope is in the One who will never leave you alone in your circumstances.

Life might get worse before it gets better. But your hope is not in your circumstances. Your hope is in the One who will never leave you alone in your circumstances. #hope #hopeinJesus Share on X

You can rest in this promise today.

An Invitation for Your Hard Seasons:

Are you in the middle of a difficult season? My gift to you is my 20-day devotional, Glimpses of Hope for When Life Lets You Down. This devotional will lead you through a daily reflection, Scripture reading, and questions for thought and reflection. It will help you bring your broken heart to God and process your emotions in the safe place of his presence. It’s yours by clicking here.