Excerpted from  Hope in Front of Me: Find Purpose in Your Darkest Moments by Danny Gokey and Ben Stroup

In a way, pain reminds us that we are still alive. The abundant life we’ve been promised doesn’t come filtered and separate from pain and suffering. It is part of what rounds out our existence.

We don’t go looking for pain, yet it seems to find us.

We don’t ask for pain, yet it comes uninvited.

We don’t chase pain, yet it feels like it is in pursuit of us at times.

You have a choice to make. You can choose to see the world around you with promise and possibility, or you can choose to see limitations and obstacles. How you look at the world around you is what it will become. Your life will move in the direction of what you’re focused on. If your eyes focus on the bad things, your life will move in that direction. If your eyes are set on good or hopeful things, you will move in that direction.

Keep Your Car on the Road

It’s like driving. If you take your eyes off the road, you will eventually swerve off the road and go in a direction you didn’t want to go. When driving your car, you must be intentional to stay on the road if you want to get to your expected destination. The same thing applies in our lives. If you want a life of hope, your eyes must stay focused on that hope — no matter what distractions or difficulties are around you — in order to get there. How you move through life will determine the quality of your life and your ability to find satisfaction and fulfillment.

Hope is the vehicle that you get into that will drive you through your darkest moments.

I know the road ahead will be hard. This won’t be the last time I feel lost, alone, and confused. But I will remember that I made it through.

I’m not the only one. There are others who have endured similar— or even worse — pain. And they made it. This encourages me to think that what seems impossible is possible as long as I have faith and patience. Nothing has happened in your past and nothing will happen in your future that God won’t give you the grace to walk through.

If we never felt pain, we couldn’t fully understand joy.

If we never experienced grief, we couldn’t explain comfort.

If we never lost anything, we couldn’t know what it means to be found.

I believe life is intended to be an abundant one.

I believe faith is intended to be worked out in real time.

I believe hope is intended to be flowing constantly in my life and in yours.

Hope in Front of Me: Find Purpose in Your Darkest Moments by Danny Gokey and Ben Stroup