Christian Blogger Bridget A. Thomas always wanted to be a writer. According to her bio on her blog, in addition to writing, Bridget loves to encourage others, read, and even crochet. Bridget says she enjoys going to the mountains to chase black bears with her husband, with whom she also loves attending college baseball games alongside.
Bridget is the author of a number of books, including “Every Day is a Gift!” in which Bridget shares her own journey of overcoming negativity through nurturing a more grateful attitude.
Bridget was kind enough to write a guest post for The Devotional Guy™.
I’m honored to share her beautiful words of encouragement with you.
Faith = Hope=Strength
Do the worries of life ever feel like they are suffocating you? We all have plenty of things that we can worry about. And at different times in life, our worries seem to pile up. I bet most of us would agree that worrying isn’t fun. When we worry too much, it catapults into other emotions such as dread and fear.
When I was feeling this way recently, God led me down an interesting path through His Word. It started with one particular Bible verse that encouraged me – 1 Corinthians 13:13. I really like the way the New Living Translation puts it, “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”
I was familiar with this verse, but sometimes verses will strike us differently depending on what we are walking through. And at the time, I felt something stir on the inside of me. I knew I needed more hope in my heart.
But how do we get hope? It starts with our faith. God led me to another verse in the Bible – Hebrews 11:1 which says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (NIV). As I reflected on these words, I realized that our faith ignites our hope.
As Christians, we have faith in Jesus. And thanks to Jesus, we have hope. Not only does Jesus bring us hope for our eternal lives, but He brings us hope for our lives here on earth as well.
As I continued digging into the subject of hope and trying to get a handle on how to grab a hold of it, God showed me a third verse from Scripture. In Isaiah 40:31, it says, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
When God laid these three Bible verses out for me in this order, it helped me to see that: Faith leads to hope and hope leads to strength. Faith = Hope = Strength!
I was recently put to the test where I had to remember these words. I was worried about something when God gave me a gentle nudge to remind me of these truths. I felt like He was asking me if I was going to trust Him.
Sometimes trusting God means we have to give ourselves a pep talk. The enemy will try to steer our thoughts in a negative direction. But we have the power to turn away from the lies he feeds us, and hold tightly to the Lord instead. I love the way 1 Samuel 30:6 says, “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (NKJV) or “David encouraged himself in the Lord his God” (KJV). There are times when we have to strengthen and encourage ourselves, by trusting in God.
We will all face difficulties in life. But we can face them with strength when we know that Lord is beside us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. And He will guide us through anything we face.
We can grab hold of the hope that Jesus offers, by grabbing onto Him. When we cling to the Lord, we cling to hope. And He is holding us right back. No matter what we are facing, we can keep hope tucked in our hearts, because we have a Savior who changed everything for us.
I don’t know what worries you are facing today, but I hope these truths found in the Bible will help you remember that our faith gives us hope and our hope gives us strength.
Every Day is a Gift!
Bridget
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I pray that Bridget’s post encourages you and helps you release your worries. You can lay that at God’s feet (and leave them there). I want to thank her for sharing what the Lord laid on her heart with us.
The Devotional Guy™.
If you are interested in writing a guest post for The Devotional Guy™ please let me know in the COMMENTS.
In the meantime, keep enjoying #Blogtober!
Love and blessings,
The Devotional Guy™
#bgbg2#BibleGateway #Blogtober
The Devotional Guy™ 
Faith ignites hope and hope gives us strength—God’s strength. Amen!
I few years ago, I wandered into the world of mindfulness meditation. I downloaded apps, read books, and participated in live streamed content. However, I soon realized that the people I was learning from had no hope beyond themselves. Mindfulness is based on the principles of Buddhism, not Christianity. Self-enlightenment and hope in Christ are not the same thing . Just my two cents.
Great post! Thank you, Bridget and Rainer.
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Very good point, David! Our strength comes from God! To be honest, I am so glad of that because I know I can’t do it all on my own. It is scary and sad how some people choose to live without Him and face life in their own strength. But I am thankful that we don’t have to.
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