HOPE I S A wonderful gift from God, a source of strength and courage in the face of life’s harshest trials.

• When we are trapped in a tunnel of misery, hope points to the light at the end.
• When we are overworked and exhausted, hope gives us fresh energy.
• When we are discouraged, hope lifts our spirits.
• When we are tempted to quit, hope keeps us going.
• When we lose our way and confusion blurs the destination, hope dulls the edge of panic.
• When we struggle with a crippling disease or a lingering illness, hope helps us persevere beyond the pain.
• When we fear the worst, hope brings reminders that God is still in control.
• When we must endure the consequences of bad decisions, hope fuels our recovery.
• When we find ourselves unemployed, hope tells us we still have a future.
• When we are forced to sit back and wait, hope gives us the patience to trust.
• When we feel rejected and abandoned, hope reminds us we’re not alone . . . we’ll make it.
• When we say our final farewell to someone we love, hope in the life beyond gets us through our grief.

Put simply, when life hurts and dreams fade, nothing helps like hope.

Webster defines hope: “Desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment . . . to desire with expectation of obtainment . . . to expect with confidence.” How vital is that expectation! Without it, prisoners of war languish and die. Without it, students get discouraged and drop out of school. Without it, athletic teams fall into a slump and continue to lose . . . fledgling writers, longing to be published, run out of determination . . . addicts return to their habits . . . marriage partners decide to divorce . . . inventors, artists, entertainers, entrepreneurs, even preachers, lose their creativity.

Hope isn’t merely a nice option that helps us temporarily clear a hurdle. It’s essential to our survival.

Realizing the vital role hope plays in life, I decided several years ago to do a serious, in-depth study on the subject. To my surprise, one of the best sources of information was a letter located toward the end of the New Testament that was written by the old fisherman himself, Peter. He should know the subject well, having found himself in great need of hope at a critical moment in his own life—when he failed miserably.

And so . . . here it is, a book for all who sincerely search for ways to hope again . . . when your life hurts and when your dreams fade.

Charles R. Swindoll, Hope Again: When Life Hurts and Dreams Fade (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997).