We’ve already discovered that God will allure (romance) us out of the bondage of this world and lead us to the Valley of Achor (trouble) with all its trials and tribulations.  But it doesn’t end there; it would be pretty bleak if it did.  Instead, God uses our troubles to bring us to the Door of Hope and the path back to our Garden home.  Sound interesting?  It is, so keep reading.

Of all of my experiences along the journey back home, walking through the Door of Hope was the one that changed my life more than any other.  It ignited the restoration of my soul into high gear and propelled me forward in my love relationship with God.  What I discovered is that God will not force any of us through the Door of Hope. We must choose to go through on our own volition! Yes, He will use brokenness, doubt and despair in our life to lead us to the threshold, but we must choose to walk through. And when we do everything changes. Why; because our perspective changes. We go from viewing life as a glass half empty and leaking drop by drop to one where the glass is half full and taking on water by the second. So in the interest of being bold, I’ll ask you the following question, “Are you willing to walk through the Door of Hope?

Hope is fascinating in that it’s a metamorphosis in a sense.  It changes on the inside how we see and interpret the outside.  One of my mentors put it this way; “With hope, there is no such thing as bad news and good news, there’s just news; and the rest of life is perspective!” Wow!!! It took me about a decade of walking through life’s difficulties to finally have my eyes opened to the depth and truth of hope. Hope has the transformative power to lift us up no matter what wrong we’ve done or how low we find ourselves.  Hope picks up the pieces of our lives and glues it back together anew.  Hope restores! 

I gave the act of walking through (or crossing over into) the Door of Hope a name. I call it ‘Hopesteration.’  No matter what you call it, in application it is both guaranteed and completed (hope restored) and ongoing daily (hope restoring). And just like it restored me many years ago when I said yes to God, it is also restoring me through the fear, anxiety, and worry of 2020 and beyond.  Hope has protected me from being shaken underfoot and has firmly set my feet on solid ground.  The book of Hebrews says that we have this hope as an anchor to our soul; firm and secure. That’s what true hope is, an anchor for our soul in times of distress.

I’ve witnessed many people paralyzed by fear this past year because of what I determined as misplaced hope. Their hope was in the world’s capacity to save and provide and it came up short! Ultimately, only God can save and provide for us, and because He loves us unconditionally He goes to whatever lengths necessary to romance us out of this world, introduce us to trouble, lead us to hope and walk us back home. He knows that in this process we will find a “peace that surpasses all understanding.”  News flash! The world doesn’t want you understanding true peace, rather it is hell bent on controlling your heart and mind through fear, and ignorance and you got it – hopelessness. 

So I go back to my initial invitation.  Would you like to walk through the Door of Hope? It costs you nothing and gives you everything, including the freedom and courage to confidently expect good in your life. So seize the moment and ask God to lead you to the door; then walk in!

Dario L. Perla