Let His Word Paint The Picture Instead

Fear sells better than hope, and the people making what you read all day know it. Spend an hour in it and you will come out with a picture of the future you did not choose.

Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Things not seen. Both hope and dread are about things you cannot see yet. The difference is which one you are letting fill in the blank.

Nobody has to be taught to imagine the worst. It arrives free of charge and feels responsible, like you are preparing yourself. Mostly you are just rehearsing something that has not happened.

Families who walk through very hard things and come out with their faith intact usually have this in common. They kept going back to what God said about it rather than only to what everyone around them was saying.

That is not denial and it is not a technique for controlling outcomes. It is choosing whose account of your future you let shape you while you wait. Ask what God has actually said about this, and let the Holy Spirit put that in front of you, because He is the one who makes hope stick when your own resolve runs out.

Something is painting a picture in you every day. It might as well be Him.