As we enter the recovery process, we come from a background of hoping for the wrong things. Maybe we hope that the dope man is in a good mood, or that he'll be generous with the $8 I have right now. We hope that things will work themselves out or we'll have enough money to pay the bills. We hope we won't get in trouble or do anything stupid. We would hope that we wouldn't drink too much or that we wouldn't get caught while driving under the influence. All the while, our hope was very conditional and always in favor of what we wanted. Other than those situations, most of us never focus on hope specifically. 

The reality of our lack of hope is the reality of our false hopes. We have hoped in things all these years that were not always positive, and would usually let us down. This is the cycle, and after continually putting our hope in people or things, to only be let down, puts us in the position of hopelessness. We may never make the connection of why we become hopeless. We just come to the conclusion that we have been hoping in the wrong things. In all actuality, this is true, but instead of putting our hope in the right things, we end up continuing in this destructive nature, and just try to find something else we think our hope should be in. 

In recovery, we may come to the conclusion that we need Jesus, but have a hard time of making Jesus the very center of our lives. If this happens, we will continue to put our hope in the same things, just different faces. What I mean by this is we may put our hope in a counselor, or a pastor, or a particular program. The problem with this is the results will always be the same. As much as we may not want it to be true, man is man, and we are all fallible, no matter the relationship we may appear to have with Jesus. It is not to say that it isn't good to have relationships with healthy people in recovery, just not to place hope in them.

Jesus is the one person in our lives that is very consistent. He always loves us, He is always by our side, and His Word never changes. He is consistent. 1st Corinthians 13:7 talks about love and how it hopes in all things. If we are grounded in Jesus and if we are willing to trust him with all things, the result of that is we need to have our hope in Him. If your hope is in Jesus, where will your worries be? Knowing that He will take care of all of our needs is a very comforting and peaceful thought. When we have our hope in Him, our worldly circumstances have no weight on us, because we are trusting that He has a plan, and everything He does is perfect. Knowing this in our lives, can make our recovery a less stressful journey, because instead of placing the results on a thing or person, you have to leave the results up to God. So relax, if God can create the earth in just six days, and rest on the seventh, then it will be a lot easier to trust in Him, even if we don't understand. And if there is something we don't understand, there is a simple instruction for us in Jeremiah 33:3.