A few years ago the Soviet submarine Kursk went down in the Barents Sea. When the diving crews finally reached it they heard SOS signals coming from inside. Desperate sailors wondered "Is there any hope?" Sadly for them there wasn't.
Do you feel trapped in an impossible situation you can't seem to change or escape? If so, God is saying to you today, "The plans I have for you are good to give you a future and a hope."
Now, hope is not just the absence of despair, it's the presence of something greater; something only God can give.
Hope is not passive; it's the most active force in the world because it's derived from the most powerful being of all - God. And it's never further away than He is.
Clint Eastwood became famous for starring in a movie called The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Four decades later some of us still use those words when describing certain aspects of life.
But here's the good news: through His amazing grace God can take the good, the bad and the ugly experiences in your life and use them to make you unbelievably better at what He created you for, whatever that might be!
In God's economy all is redeemed and nothing is ever lost. He can take the good things we remember fondly, the bad things we might like to forget, and the ugly things that shaped us into people we didn't start out to be, and use all of them to facilitate His purpose for each and every one of us.
So, don't give up hope!
