Episode 090 | How to Hold on to Hope in the Hard Places

How to find hope and ask for the help you need when difficult and uncertain times convince you that your situation is hopeless.

Meet the Author!

Sarah Beckman is no stranger to suffering. She brings both sides of the experience, as one who has battled health struggles and one who has walked with others in their hard place.

Sarah has a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin, blogs at sarahbeckman.org and regularly contributes to many online and print publications.

Sarah thrives when she’s coming alongside others in hard places. She serves at her local church, and volunteers with several domestic and international non-profits. She and her husband Craig have been married for twenty-six years. They live in Albuquerque, NM and have three grown children.

Hope When It’s Hard to Be Happy

“In this life, everyone must face trials. Cancer, chronic illness, loss of a loved one, divorce, depression, prodigal children, caring for aging parents, and other unknown terrains can cause people to feel hopeless and helpless. For those who feel like they don’t know where to turn, Hope in the Hard Places equips readers to walk through their trial with hope rather than desperation.”

What do people want when they’re in a crisis? It may change on any given day, because when someone is in crisis, emotions and circumstances change so quickly.

If you feel like your hope is dwindling in this uncertain time of self-isolation and limited interaction, you are not alone. If you’ve been living in a hard place for many years before 2020, there is hope for better days.

In our interview, Sarah says that what people tend to need most when they’re in a difficult situation boil down to these four things: hope, resources, encouragement, practical tools. Not necessarily in that order, and not necessarily all at once.

Sarah shares one of the best questions you can ask a friend in need, and guides those who are in tough situations (i.e., chronic illnesses, disabilities, emotional trauma, etc.) on how to ask for and accept the help they so desperately need. We talk about the main things that keep people from asking for help, and how to navigate those personal connections.

Hope for the Helper

Sarah points out for the person in need: if there’s no one to love and to help, we cannot grow fully as Christians. Making your needs available allows someone to use their gifts to bless you. In turn, when we can be there for each other, we are emulating the spirit of God and being the church.

“Your difficult circumstance is worthy of someone’s time and attention.” – Sarah

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)

Other topics we cover in the podcast interview:

• The process that allows us to get to the other side, and what happens when we misplace blame.
• Why it’s important to know who God is when bad things happen.
• What happens to someones view of God when hard times come
• How we can help hurting people have a true and realistic expectation of the Lord

There is hope in the hardest and darkest of places, that somehow, even our hardest circumstance can somehow be multiplied.