Hope

I'm going deep with this post :) I'm writing about hope today. Partly because I feel like this is a big part of my life, and partly because I want to have this post to look back on in the future.

I have been SO stressed lately. I've got finals coming up, along with AP exams, and they are all falling in the same 2 weeks. Projects and presentations keep popping up, and my weekends are all so busy already. I feel like my life has been put into fast forward, and I can't wait until it's all over so I can take a step back and breathe a little easier. So for now, I'm holding on to hope!

via

Hope - "the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best"

I really like that last part that events will turn out for the best. I feel like I am constantly clinging to hope. Life isn't easy right now, and I often feel stressed.

But I know it's just a phase. I won't be experiencing this difficult school year forever. Life will go on and times will change. I don't know what this life will bring me, and that scares me. I don't know if my plans match God's plan for my life. I wish I knew how the rest of my life is going turn out, but I don't. I have no idea, and no one does. So, in the mean time, I cling to this:

"For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe! Plans to give you a future full of hope. When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you. When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, you will find me with you."

~ Jeremiah 29:11-14

And I think about my life long-term. I have faith that one day I will be in heaven (at least I hope so - ha!). When I stop to think about that, it makes the hard times now seem so worth it.

I imagine heaven as being infinitely better than even the perfect days on earth. The simple feelings of falling in love, finding the perfect purse on sale, laughing with friends, eating a delicious dessert. All of those simple, perfect moments on earth will seem insignificant in heaven. And that gives me hope.

Eventually I will have a perfect life. And that gives me hope to get through today and to face any other obstacle that gets thrown my way.

Because I know there are going to be lots of obstacles over the next few weeks and the rest of my life. But it will all be worth it in the end. Thank goodness! :)