Misplaced Hope

Hope in God

Unmet expectations that cause bitterness are often the result of a misplaced hope!

“We wait for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.” Ps 33:20-22

I don’t know about you but I have a gift at times I feel of misplacing things. I wish I had the excuse that “oh, it was just a blond moment," but being that I am a brunette I don’t have such a luxury. I could regale you with story after story of things I've misplaced throughout my life as I’m sure many of you could share stories of misplacing things. Even as we speak I have no idea where I put my camera; story of my life…I always pray for the patience of my future husband.

Back in May I was blown away and honored to be able to put on an event called RADIANT: A worship gathering for girls for the girls at my Church. It was the first one and so to say I was nervous was an understatement. I was excited and full of anticipation but still nervous. I went it very much in faith just praying girls were going to come. Praise God that 73 girls came that night. For it being the first on many, I pray, it was a great start and I was blown away. It defiantly took awhile for the reality of my vision coming to life to sink in. Sometimes when you work on something so long and pray about it for so long when it does happen and its’ over before you know it, it just takes some time for one's mind to wrap around it. 

One of the things that I had a strong desire to see happen was for that night to do something a little unconventional for a girls event…get a guy speaker. So I had more than once asked a friend of mine to come speak to the girls and it was just such a God thing that he was able to do it, and he did an amazing job. But, when he first got there I was #1 excited to see him and #2 all over the place thinking about the event and so in my hast when he got to my house I went out to see him and closed the door behind me; not thinking that it was going to lock behind me…or HELLO, I would not have shut it. The moment I closed it I knew immediately I had “Misplaced” the spare key inside the house. So there we stood. WELCOME TO CANTON! Praise the Lord my step-mom pulled up not long after I realized we were now locked out of the house! It’s funny now, a little humiliating at the time, but I can’t help but laugh about it now because it's  just classic me. 

But, I tell you all that say or well ask, what good was that key going to do me inside that house? Sometimes the same thing happens with us and our hope. Sometimes it isn’t until we find ourselves in a situation or circumstance that we realize we have misplaced our hope. We don’t realize we have put our hope in that thing or person until the door is shut and now we realize that all along our hope was in the wrong thing. 

I just challenge you to think about where are you putting your hope? Don’t wait until the door is shut (when the heartbreak comes) to realize that you have misplaced your hope…ask the Lord now and search your heart and see if you have misplaced your hope. Hear me out. I’m not saying expectations are wrong. What I am saying is that we must be extremely careful of what expectations we build in our minds and, ultimately, of where we are placing our hope If I expect a friendship or relationship to “make me feel secure,” then I will be disappointed with all my friends and relationships when they fail to meet my needs. The biggest unmet expectations are when we place the burden of our happiness or completion upon someone or something other than God.  God knows that if our hope is in anything but him we ultimately will be disappointed. Surrender your pain and unmet expectations to God and let Him work out  healing in your heart. This my friends, is the path to freedom. Freedom of misplaced hope. I cannot promised you that you will never misplace your keys, but if you put your hope in Christ and trust your life to Him your hope will no longer be misplaced. 

“We wait for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.” Ps 33:20-22


As I was writing this song came on Pandora. I had not heard it in years and thought it fit just perfectly!