Sorrow. Misery. Hopelessness. Grief. Anger. Worthlessness. Shame. It is easy to let those words define us and become our identity.

It is easy to say, “Life is hopeless. There is no future for me. I will always be a worthless failure. If people saw who I really was, everyone would despise me. I know that God sees everything about me…Does He hate me as much as I hate myself? No one can really love me. I see no joy or hope in life.”

But my message for you is that there is hope! I know that in hard times it is hard to see beyond the pain of the moment. I have felt that. There have been times when I have felt very hopeless and worthless. In those times people would tell me that there was hope and that I wasn’t worthless – that God cared enough to die for me so that I could be free from sin and shame. In that time I kind of just said, “Yeah, whatever. There is hope for you because you aren’t in the situation that I am in. If you were here, you would know that there isn’t any hope at all.” When sorrow weighs down upon your heart, it is hard to see the future and to know that indeed your life will get better.

We used to live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There were long, dark tunnels. When you were in them, sometimes you couldn’t see light on either end. Life can be like that sometimes. You are in the middle of hard times and it is hard to see – and remember – that there is light at the end of the darkness.

I really like this verse from the psalms that says,

Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

The night of sorrow and pain and hurt will not last forever! Even if it seems far off, morning will dawn and joy will arise! Honestly, I am still learning how to seek the morning and how to find true joy and hope in my Savior!

No matter what happens, no matter what you have done or what you will do, God’s love stays the same. He loves you. He doesn’t just keep you alive and apart from him. He loves you. He is near to the brokenhearted. He gives hope to the hopeless. There is a morning to your night. Darkness will not surround you forever. God can free you and give you joy once more. Trust him, cling to him, and hope and joy will arise. There is hope for a better future. You may be like I was and say, “Yeah, sure. That doesn’t apply to me.” The truth is that it does apply very much to you. Whether you can see it or not, the truth is that there is hope and that you are very loved by God and you are priceless. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You are worth so much!