Wherever you've lost hope, go back and get it.

I am Saint Pierre, Verily, verily, I say to you that when you've lost your hope, you can find it again, whether misplaced, robbed, or left behind, you can reclaim.

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Let us ponder how to reclaim our hope.

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Everything is OK for the moment we're going about our daily lives as if all is normal.

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We're hopeful that things will at least stay the same or get better.

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Then, out of nowhere, something terrible happens.

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The event has us now questioning our.

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Hope if we question hope long enough, it soon is lost.

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Hope goes away.

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It's snatched from us and nowhere to be found.

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But can we get it back?

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Most certainly we can.

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And here are a few points to help us get our hope back.

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The first thing we must do is remember where we lost our hope.

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Where is the place and time, the moment, the space, the event that robbed us of our hope?

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Was it something someone said?

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Was it a tragic event that occurred?

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We need to identify when, where and why we lost hope to have any chance of finding it again.

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When I tried to purchase my first home, I had so many things go wrong at different stages of the process.

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I saved what was required for a down payment and began shopping for my home.

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I found the home I wanted and was so excited about it.

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I just knew everything from there would go smoothly.

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After placing my offer, I waited.

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In anticipation of that response of congratulations, your offer was accepted.

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It never came.

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Instead I received notification that another offer was accepted.

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In fact, for the next 8 houses that I put offers on, all the sellers went with other buyers.

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And with the housing market being fully in the sellers favor, I was not going to keep putting my heart and my hope through that torture.

But the desire in me to graduate from renting to buying was greater than my fear and frustration of the buying process.

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So I asked myself, when did you lose hope?

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That was clearly when the 9th offer I placed was rejected.

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Where did I lose hope?

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I lost it in the competitive nature of the buying process.

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And why did I lose hope?

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The rejection of my offers, together with my inability to compete with cash offers made me believe I had no hope of sealing the deal on my new home.

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By understanding the when, where and why I lost hope I could begin to reclaim my hope.

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I could go back to the place the moment that I lost it and get it back.

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Getting it back means calling it back into your life.

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It means reminding yourself of the hope you once had and stirring it up again.

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If you lost it, find it.

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If it was stolen, get it back.

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If it died, resurrect it.

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I thought about the last house where my offer was rejected.

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That my hope wasn't in the house itself.

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My hope was in the fact that I would get the House that was meant for me.

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So all the rejections worked in my favour.

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I changed how I perceived the process by reminding myself that God would ensure I would get what is meant from me.

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And would move all others from my path.

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Faith and gratitude are essential to getting hope back in John Chapter 11 we find where Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, has died.

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All were friends of Jesus, and Jesus dearly loved them as Jesus returns to be with Mary and Martha, he is confronted with the hope that they lost.

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Their hope was that Lazarus didn't die, and if Jesus had been there, they were certain Lazarus would still be alive.

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But Lazarus was dead and buried. At this point, Mary and Martha's family and friends lost our hope. Jesus recognized his loss in verse 34, he said. Where have you laid him?

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Where did you lose your hope?

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The tomb Lazarus was dead, so there was no hope left.

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They left their hope in the tomb with lazy.

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Of course, Jesus is not intimidated by such loss.

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Because he himself is hope.

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He demonstrated this by going.

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To the tomb.

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To the place where they left their hope.

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He called Lazarus from the grave.

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Lazarus got up from his grave and walked out.

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Hope was revived.

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Hope was resurrected.

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Jesus resurrected their hope, right.

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In the place where they lost it.

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Once you get your hope back, you must dust it off.

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You must remove any residue of the place where you lost it.

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In verse 44 of that same chapter, after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he told those around him to loose him and let him go.

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Lazarus still had grave clothes on Jesus told those there to remove those grave clothes.

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The clothes were part of the death and burial process.

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But Lazareth was now alive.

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Hope was now alive, so any remnants of death needed to be removed.

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The grave clothes or like negative feelings, fears, doubts and hopelessness.

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It can also be words spoken that somehow have bound your hope.

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Lazarus was sick before he died.

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There were probably people saying things like there's no cure for his sickness, I just don't know if he's going to live any longer.

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Or maybe it's his time to go.

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Such words can definitely kill your hope and keep you in the grave once we get our hope back, though, we must strip ourselves of the negative words and feelings that led to losing hope.

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We must remove all the fears and doubts.

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We must dust it off, shake off everything that does not support our hope.

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This includes thoughts, feelings, attitudes and voices that do not align with what we hope for.

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If hope is alive, then we must remove everything around it that is trying to kill it or that tries to keep it dead and buried.

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Hope shouldn't be dirty.

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Hope shouldn't be dead.

Once we dust it off, then we are free to do what our Third Point suggests.

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We are free to share it with others.

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We would not want to share hope with others that is tainted with fear and unbelief.

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People will recognize phonies, people will recognize gaps in our hope.

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In John 11:45 we find where Mary has shared her hope with others. Only after they removed the grave clothes from Lazareth the.

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Proof was fully visible.

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Many saw the miracle that Jesus performed with Lazarus and believed the hope that Mary and Martha experience had multiplied.

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I followed this example by sharing with others how I got my hope back when buying a house.

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I finally got the house meant for me.

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The rejection by the others was just direction to the right one.

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Hope is meant to be shared.

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We should speak of the things we hope for.

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We should show the results or the outcome of our hope.

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And we should always be willing to inspire hope in others.

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By doing so, we solidify hope within ourselves.

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We become more than just people.

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Who hope in vain?

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We become ambassadors of faith, spreading hope to the world.

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Romans 1513 says May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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Hope always comes with joy and peace as we are filled with hope.

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We must protect it.

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If we lose it, we must find it again.

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God is the ultimate source of this kind of hope.

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And hope that is lasting and that is effective comes only from him alone.

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Let us remind ourselves that God has only good things planned for us.

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Such a hope is an anchor in our lives.

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If we have somehow misplaced it, let us get it back.

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Let us dust it off and let us share it with others.

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This is what we do.

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The hopeful, the children of God, the believers of Jesus keep hope alive.

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Father, we thank you for being our source of hope.

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We might be somewhat disturbed, discouraged, or hurt by what has recently happened.

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We might have wavered in our hope if our Hope Cup is running low, we ask that you fill us again to overflowing.

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We reclaim it, we receive again our hope that you are good.

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That you have only good in store for us and that everything works together for our good may join peace be our companions as we journey on in hope fulfilling your purpose for our lives in Jesus name we pray.

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For music and herdsmen and war of the haunts upon NORPAC, visit wwfherewilliams.com, thanks for listening to pondering. This is saying to you.

Points to Ponder with Saint Pierre

Living Hope: Reclaiming Your Hope

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Points to Ponder with Saint Pierre

Living Hope: Reclaiming Your Hope

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