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“And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.”

—1 Thess. 4:13

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This week, I asked a brilliant and kind friend, one who happens to be an author and pastor, to write a prayer guide for us. Allow me to introduce you to Steve Carter. I know you’ll enjoy his words.

When I was walking through one of the hardest seasons of loss I’d ever experienced, a dear mentor reached out and offered me this guidance: “Grieve often. Feel it all. But whatever you do, please don’t grieve without hope.”

Grief and hope.

Pairing those words together felt like an oxymoron, like unlikely dancing partners destined to get the choreography wrong. My understanding of hope then was based more on whimsy and platitudes than anything profound or biblical.

Often, we use the word hope loosely. We might shrug and remark “I hope the Chicago Cubs make the World Series,” or “I hope that our flight isn’t delayed.” When we use hope this way, we proclaim our uncertainty. This feels wildly different than what biblical hope proclaims.

I knew that if I was going to grieve with hope, I would need to rediscover what biblical hope means.
Biblical hope begins when we can look at the adversity we’re experiencing and choose to desire something good within it. Romans 8:28 states, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.”

In all things. Not a few things. In other words, God is working on your behalf to redeem, restore, heal, and help make your heart’s good desires a reality even amid your loss and grief.

It’s true that the good we are seeking doesn’t often come on our timetable, but Scripture tells us we can believe anything is possible because Jesus’s resurrection power brings certainty, a certainty that overcomes every fear, anxiety, and pain, including death

Response

One day as I was hiking on a desert trail, I was reminded of words a mentor had shared with me. He said, “Carter, I DARE you to hope.” As I fleshed out the biblical understanding of hope, I saw an invitation in the word DARE,

D – Desire something good

A – Anything is possible

R – Resurrection brings certainty

E – Expect that good is on its way

Closing Thoughts

Would you pray this with me today?

Dear God, give us the courage to grieve, to feel all the pain, loss, change, and struggle; but let us be the kind of people who never lose hope. Your son embodied both so well, help us be the kind of disciples who can mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice and everything in between. Let us be people who DARE to hope.

Hoping with you,

Steve Carter

P.S. If this prayer guide spoke to you, I’d highly recommend Steve’s new book Grieve, Breathe, Receive: Finding a Faith Strong Enough to Hold Us. You can get it here.

P.P.S. I don’t receive affiliate revenue or anything like that. I just like introducing you to people and books I believe in.