Hope for the New Year

Nursing students, what are you hoping for in this new year?

Are you excited about your clinicals or classes that bring together the theory of nursing into the practical application? Are you eager to see what God is going to do through your NCF chapter? Perhaps you are looking ahead to graduation--the culmination of all your hard work.

Or perhaps you are anxious about a particularly difficult class this semester, or a relationship that isn’t going well, or you are discouraged because you invited a lot of friends to NCF and no one has responded.

When we feel downcast, we focus on ourselves. We become negative or feel that what we wish for probably won’t happen.

When we hope in God, we look upward and focus on the future with an eager anticipation of what God can and will do.

Hope changes our outlook and our attitude.

In Psalm 42, David is talking to himself in the deep inner soul when he says:

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

David has been struggling. He longs for God but the people around him have been taunting him by asking, “Where is your God?” David responds by pouring his heart out to God. God directs his thoughts to look back and remember what God has done for him.

Take a minute to do this. Think back to a time when God has protected you, guided you, encouraged and sustained you. What did God do? How did you feel? Even when we may feel abandoned, God is right here with us.

Now that you've remembered how God has worked in your life, place your hope in God for this semester. What do you hope God will do? Dream big! Keep praying for those dreams and put your hope in God!

Let hope in God change your outlook and attitude today as you eagerly anticipate what God will do.

--Bonnie Hann, NCF National Campus Staff Minister