Susan Dies: 0:38

Welcome to the one Yes at A Time podcast. My name is Susan Dies and I'm here with my co-host, Keidra Hobley, and today we're talking about something that I believe is gonna be an encouragement to everyone who takes the time to listen... because today we're talking about hope... and Keidra, hope is something that every human being needs. Absolutely. And the Bible tells us in one Peter 3:15 to"Always be prepared to give a reason for the hope we have in Jesus"... and that's what we're hoping to do today.

Keidra Hobley: 1:04

Mm-hmm. Yes. And that is so important because we all need hope as you said.

Susan Dies: 1:09

We do. In fact, this past week as I was doing some reading on this topic of hope, I came across an interesting article that was published in June of 2025. It was a study done by researchers at the University of Missouri and Columbia, and it included more than 2300 participants. And in this study, researchers analyzed a number of different positive emotions that we as human beings desire to experience. Some were amusement and entertainment. Mm-hmm. Top of the list. Yep. Contentment... excitement... happiness, hope, and gratitude. And what they found is that out of all these different emotions, hope was the only emotion that consistently predicted that people would also feel that their life had meaning. It also showed that people who live with hope enjoy better health. They have an overall greater sense of wellbeing... and they have more satisfying relationships. And so the bottom line is that even more than contentment, even more than happiness and gratitude, what people need is hope. Does that surprise you?

Keidra Hobley: 2:10

It does not surprise me, but I would not have thought that that would've been the top of the list like it was... and what really stood out to me just then when you said that is the connection between hopelessness and health. That really hit me. So sometimes I think when we find ourselves in a place of being unhealthy.. Uhhuh... whether it's physically, mentally, emotionally, socially... we may need to look and see where we lost hope. Wow. Yeah.

Susan Dies: 2:36

That's a great thought. Why do you think that out of all these different emotions that they studied, that hope was the one that predicted whether or not someone would feel that their life has meaning?

Keidra Hobley: 2:48

Because hope is attached to purpose. Purpose isn't automatically fulfilled, and so it takes hope to continue to believe that you will fulfill the purpose for which the Lord has created you.

Susan Dies: 3:01

Something that came to my mind is that in Ecclesiastes 3:11 it says God has made everything beautiful in its time." In its time. Yeah. And that's the hope that we need. Mm-hmm. And that somehow, no matter what we go through in this life, that God will do exactly as he promised in Isaiah 61... that we will trade poverty for wealth.. Mm-hmm... shame for joy... mourning for dancing... ashes for beauty. I think that's my favorite one. Yeah. That's the comfort. That's the promise. That's the hope... that somehow God will take even the bad things in life and, in time, somehow make something beautiful out of that. And only God can do that. And all we have to do is look to the cross to know that that's true.

Keidra Hobley: 3:43

Yeah. When you said ashes for beauty, I think so many times we want the beauty.. Mm... but we don't wanna have to endure the ashes. You're right. Yeah. And so that's where hope comes in, because when you're in the midst of those ashes, you have to be hopeful knowing that, that will be exchanged for beauty.

Susan Dies: 3:59

I love that. It also says at the end of that same verse, that"God has set eternity in the human heart." So this means that every single person is born with a God-given awareness that there is something more to this life... that God has hardwired us as human beings to put our hope in the eternal. Mm-hmm. Don't you find that interesting?

Keidra Hobley: 4:19

Yeah. Yeah. And it is in the looking towards eternity that we have to have hope because that's long term. That's right. That's end game, you know? And if we were looking at just the day to day without keeping in sight eternity, then we will lose hope.

Susan Dies: 4:34

We will. In fact, I think he did that on purpose because he knows that there are many hopes that we'll never be fulfilled this side of heaven.. Mm-hmm... in this life. People are still gonna get sick and die. Tragic things are still gonna happen that cause us to question everything we ever thought we knew. Yeah. Unforeseen circumstances are gonna shake our world... but when our hope is in God, regardless of what we face in this life, God has promised to make everything, even the worst things, beautiful in its time. And that's the hope that we need.

Keidra Hobley: 5:02

Yeah. That's so good.

Susan Dies: 5:04

You know, whether somebody is a believer or not, it actually makes sense to me that hope would be the one that we would need... not necessarily the one that we might want the most.. Mm-hmm... but the one that we need... because hope is necessary, if you think about it, for us to experience all the other positive emotions that they analyzed. Like you can't be happy and hopeless at the same time. Right, right. That's true. You can't be content or grateful or excited and be hopeless at the same time. Yeah. And if you're hopeless, you're certainly not gonna care about being amused or entertained. Mm-hmm. People who are hopeless really don't care that much about anything. And so this is a pretty important topic.. Yeah... that we're covering today.

Keidra Hobley: 5:41

Yeah. And you said that, um, believer... or nonbeliever... we all need hope. That's, I think's it's very interesting, that for a nonbeliever, you know, sometimes we as believers will look at a nonbeliever and it looks as if they are having a better life than we are. And I think, you know, that it reminded me that they're putting their hope in something.. Mm-hmm... whereas we are to put our hope in someone. And so if we take our eyes off Jesus, that's when we get hopeless... but they're not taking their eyes off of their thing, whatever that is thing is that they're putting their hope in... and therefore, they're continuing to pursue the things that they are seeking. Does that make sense?

Susan Dies: 6:17

And so it appears that they have more hope than they actually do. That's right. Mm-hmm. I've been thinking a lot about hope recently, and I've found that over the years that I've been teaching, whenever I'm preparing to talk about something or teach on a topic, the Lord will give me an opportunity to put whatever I'm teaching into practice. Okay. Have you had that same thing?

Keidra Hobley: 6:37

All the time.

Susan Dies: 6:38

Maybe it's just to keep me honest so that when I teach I can honestly say that I've experienced this particular thing that we're wrestling with, at least to some degree. And a few days ago I was talking with one of my sisters about an issue that we've been praying about for years. A situation that if we're honest, has only gotten worse, instead of better over the years... and we have prayed... and prayed... and prayed some more, and yet the situation actually seems more hopeless today than ever. And it's in these times... when things seem to get worse and not better, when so much time has passed with no significant change in circumstances, that we can begin to feel hopeless. Like, yeah, what is the point in continuing to pray? Yeah. Is God even listening? Does God care what I'm going through? If God is sovereign, and we both know that he is, why doesn't he do something? And as she and I were talking, I could feel myself getting in a bad mood. Mm-hmm. Like I was just feeling frustrated about this situation that I can't fix. Frustrated that the situation hasn't changed, and if I'm honest, frustrated that God hasn't done something. Yeah, of course. I know that it's not my job to fix it, and I do know that God is working in the situation, but the more we talked about it just... the more irritable I felt and the more I struggled to speak words of hope... which is interesting because this is what we were getting ready to talk about. Yeah. Yeah. And so I knew that she needed hope and not my irritability... and so I finally just got off the phone... and then I began to talk to my husband about it. Mm-hmm. And the more I talked about it, the more hopeless the situation seemed, to the point that I even said out loud, it's never gonna change. And I even said, I can completely understand why people can feel so hopeless. And in the middle of this conversation with David, I realized that a sense of hopelessness was exactly what I was experiencing. I was thinking negative thoughts. Yeah. I was speaking negative words and all that negative talk only reinforced.. Yeah... what I was feeling. And in that moment I realized that Satan had my number. You know what I mean? Ah, yeah. Like he dialed 4 1 1 and I picked up and I gave him all the information he needed... by the words coming out of my mouth... to know exactly how to discourage me. Yeah. I did that to myself. Yeah. And then also to get me to doubt that God was at work and to believe that things were never gonna change. Mm-hmm. But as soon as I recognized that this wrestling in my spirit wasn't really a wrestling with my doubts about God... but rather a wrestling in my spirit with Satan.. Yeah... who wanted me to doubt God... just that fast I thought to myself, I'm not about to give Satan this victory. That's right. And literally in the middle of a sentence, in my conversation with David, I said, you know what? I really don't wanna talk about this anymore. What I need to do is I need to go get ready for my day. Mm-hmm. And I need to spend some time in prayer. And that's exactly what I did. And interestingly, the moment that I consciously changed my focus to something good.. Yeah... which was to get ready for my day, go meet my mom and one of my other sisters for breakfast, which is something we do every Saturday.. Yeah... and I began to talk to Jesus about what I was feeling... just that change of focus, just that intentional time spent with Jesus in prayer, and then time with people who I knew would make me laugh.. Mm-hmm... almost immediately there was a shift in my spirit, and my mood began to change, and I began to feel more hopeful again. And what I realized in that moment is that hopelessness is an inner spiritual battle that rages in the heart and mind, and it can only be fought with spiritual weapons. Yeah. But we gotta recognize it for the spiritual battle that it is. Like God's word tells us we have to guard our hearts. It tells us what kinds of thoughts that we need to dwell on. Yeah. It tells us where to go and what to do when we're struggling. It also tells us in Ephesians 6:10-18 that when we're in a struggle, we gotta get dressed and ready for our day. Yeah. Not in jeans and a t-shirt and a baseball cap like I did.. Yeah... but in the armor of God, because it's God's armor that protects our heart and our mind when life is hard, and when we're in a battle, so that we can hold onto our hope.

Keidra Hobley: 10:46

Yeah, I, I was turning to the scripture as you were talking. Mm-hmm. And I got here Ephesians chapter six starting in verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord, in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take a stand against the devil's schemes. First of all, you gotta put on the full armor. I think sometimes.. Mm-hmm... we'll put on a piece or two. We're just half dressed. Yeah, we're half dressed. We wouldn't leave the house half dressed, but we'll, we'll leave the house spiritually half dressed. That's right. Verse 12, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers and against authorities, against powers in this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And I think that is critical when it comes to hope and hopelessness that we can't fight a spiritual battle with natural weapons. That's right. We we wrestle not against flesh and blood. So we need to be aware of that. Then verse 13, therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground after you've done everything to stand. Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. And that's important for hope. You know, even when you said you shifted the way you were thinking.. Mm-hmm... it helped. Hopelessness had to flee. That's right. That's essentially what you were saying. And so that's important. That's coming from the word. If we don't know the word, we don't know how to apply the word. Then it says, the breastplate of righteousness. You know the breastplate that's guarding your heart. That's right. You know, when we let the enemies lies into our heart, that's when hopelessness kicks in. In addition it says, your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. When we walk in peace, then we don't have to be, moving in the wrong direction towards hopelessness. Take up the shield of faith. The shield is what blocks all of those fiery darts... flaming arrows, as this translation says, of the evil ones. And so when the enemy starts throwing those arrows of hopelessness at you, if you don't have your shield, you have nothing to guard yourself against those arrows. And then take the helmet of salvation that's on your head. If you don't have on your helmet, then you let all kind of crazy thoughts in your head. Then the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

Susan Dies: 12:46

That's right. And at the end of the scripture passage that you just read, it said, and then stand. Mm-hmm. Stand firm. Yeah. Praying. Come on.. Pray about anything. Yeah. Pray about everything... for ourselves and for others. This is how we fight our battles. Yeah. Not just with hopelessness, but every battle. We gotta get ready, we gotta get dressed. We gotta stand firm in the belief that God is with us, that he is for us. We gotta get into his word so that we can be reminded of truth... and we gotta pray. Mm-hmm. And this is what takes us from feeling hopeless to being hope filled. That's good. And that's what our podcast is all about today. So let's talk a little bit. About hope itself. When you think about the word hope.. Mm-hmm... what comes to your mind?

Keidra Hobley: 13:29

Mm, it's trust in God. Mm-hmm. I think, hope and trust walk hand in hand. So, when I trust God, then I can have hope.

Susan Dies: 13:38

Right. But what about non-believers? Mm-hmm. What would be the worldly definition of hope for someone who doesn't believe in God? Mm-hmm.

Keidra Hobley: 13:46

I think the thing that comes to my mind is, making wishes, or putting your faith, your hope, your trust in things other than God. For some people it may be their finances, their income. For some it may be their own ability, their giftedness, or their talents, their skill sets. I think there's so many things and we can fall into that same trap.

Susan Dies: 14:07

Right. But real hope depends on God himself. Yeah. And he never fails. But even though we know all of this... even when our hope is in God... it isn't always easy to hold onto hope. Mm-hmm. Sometimes life hurts, you know? Yeah. Sometimes it can be hard. Sometimes things can shake our world, things that we don't see coming. Or maybe kinda like the situation I mentioned earlier, you know, we've dealt with something for so long... and it can just be so hard at times to hold on to hope. And I know that you're really strong in your faith, but I just wonder, has there ever been a time in your life where you either began to feel this sense of hopelessness, or you struggled to hold onto your hope in a difficult time?

Keidra Hobley: 14:49

Yeah. Well, I don't think that I have ever gotten to the place of hopelessness. Mm-hmm. But definitely I have had experiences where the enemy tried it. Yeah. You just weren't going there. Yeah. I'm just not gonna follow you there. You know, and you can, you can kind of feel it. You can feel yourself going down in a downward spiral. You can feel yourself starting to think on things other than what the Lord tells us to think on. You can feel yourself getting to that place where you know, woe is me. Mm-hmm. And so when I guess for me, when I find myself getting to that place, instead of allowing myself to fully go there, I do some intentional things to yank myself back out of that. Right. I, can recall one particular time. I caught myself spiraling fast. Mm-hmm. Like faster than I would normally spiral. I did something that I wouldn't normally do, and I called somebody.

Susan Dies: 15:38

And.. So you're used to just handling it on your own? On my own, just me and Jesus. See there I can read your mind already. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Keidra Hobley: 15:44

yeah. And, and finish, finish your sentences. So many times we as believers do that, and that's important. It is important to take all of our cares to him. But then there are other times where yes, it's me and Jesus... and someone that Jesus has placed in our life. Mm-hmm. And so I think it's important that we're intentional that when we catch ourselves going to that place, that we don't allow ourselves to remain in isolation. Right. Because that's where the devil does its best work. Oh yeah. So, that's what I have found... that when I find my place, getting to that point where I could fall into hopelessness. Mm-hmm. Nope, devil, you're not having it. Not going. Mm-hmm.

Susan Dies: 16:18

I think we both learned to retrain our thoughts and center them on the one that we know our hope is in. Yeah. When I think about how hard it can be to hold on to hope, I'm always encouraged by the word picture that Hebrews 6:19-20 paints when it says,"We have this hope.. Mm-hmm... as an anchor for the soul firm and secure. It(talking about hope).. Yeah... enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our fore runner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. And so an anchor is something that we throw over the side of the boat into a body of water to keep a boat from drifting, right? Mm-hmm. Especially when it's in turbulent waters. Yeah. And hope does the same thing for our souls, when we are in deep water so to speak. Hope keeps our soul from drifting, and it holds us steady even when there's nothing to hold onto. That's so great because... think about that anchor that's down in the water. There's nothing for it to hold onto when the water is super deep and yet it holds that boat or that ship. The point being is that we don't have to hold onto hope. Like an anchor, hope holds onto us. Oh, that's so good. But where does hope get its strength? It tells us in this verse. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain where Jesus has already entered on our behalf. So our hope, our anchor is attached to Jesus. Mm-hmm. He's the one that's holding us in the middle of life storms. He's the one who keeps us from drifting out into deeper waters of doubt and depression and despair. It's our faith in him, and in his ability to hold onto us. That's the hope of the believer. That's so good. Yeah. That's so good. So what about you? Do you have any favorite verses that give you strength when you're needing hope?

Keidra Hobley: 18:01

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Jeremiah 17:7 is one of mine."Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence." I think when we are hopeless we also lack confidence. And then the other one is Romans 4:18. Even when there is no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping and believing that he would become the father of many nations. So when I start questioning,'okay, Lord, is this ever gonna come to pass?' That one is my reminder. Don't stop hoping. Even though it looks like there's no reason for hope, don't stop hoping and don't stop believing. So those are two of my favorites.

Susan Dies: 18:38

I love that. I've often said that I don't know how people who don't believe in God, or who don't have faith, make it through life storms. But I was having a conversation with Brooke the other day, and she made a great point. She said, even non-believers live with hope. The biggest difference, is where we place our hope. Yeah. And she said, people who don't believe in God can definitely get through the hard times without Jesus, because we see that all the time. Mm-hmm. We just can't figure out, as believers, how they're doing it. Yeah. But likely, they're just relying on people instead of God. Mm-hmm. Or they're relying on coping skills or counseling instead of God's word. Mm-hmm. Or maybe they turn to distractions or achievements, instead of prayer and faith. Yeah. And, through these things, they do experience hope in the sense that like believers, they hold onto the hope that things are gonna work out. Mm-hmm. That there will be better days in the future. But for the Christian who looks to Jesus as the main source of our hope and comfort, our hope is rooted in the belief that not only will there be better days here... we have an eternity of better days coming. Yeah. So good. For the nonbeliever, their hope is rooted in the temporary because every person that they put their hope in is eventually gonna die. Right? Mm-hmm. Because we all die. Yeah. And every thing that they put their hope in will eventually fade or lose its meaning because nothing this side of heaven lasts forever. But for the one who puts their hope in Jesus.. Yeah... and in his promises and in the hope of heaven... that hope is grounded in the eternal. And so we all have someone or something in which we place our hope. Yeah. The question is.. Is that someone or something temporary or eternal? Because our ability to maintain hope in every circumstance really depends on who or what our hope is in. Mm-hmm. And so, it's one thing to have hope. It's another thing to maintain it. And so how can we do that? What are some practical ways that we as believers can maintain hope and that we can set that example even for the nonbeliever. Mm-hmm.

Keidra Hobley: 20:40

I think we already mentioned one and just being mindful of what we're thinking about. That's right. Just think on the things that the Lord says to think about. And then also I think we need to make it a priority to rest. Hmm. That's a great one. Even, even God rested. That's right. You know, and so sometimes we just become hopeless because we're trying to work so hard in our own strength that we forget to rest in him. Mm-hmm. Romans 15:13 says,"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him.. Mm-hmm... so that you may overflow with hope by the power of his spirit. So just taking comfort in the Lord.. Mm-hmm... is huge. Like that's the job of the Holy Spirit. Yeah. He's our comforter. He is our comforter. But we don't always let him comfort us. And that's it. And that's when we lose hope right there. Mm-hmm. So that, that's a good one. What do you think?

Susan Dies: 21:29

I think about second Corinthians 5:7 that says,"For we walk by faith and not by sight." Mm-hmm. So we need to move forward in faith. Mm-hmm. I think that's a big one. I think Romans 5:3-4, where it talks about how the sufferings that we go through, that God uses those to teach us to persevere, and that perseverance builds character, and character leads to hope, and hope does not disappoint. So in that, I would say just allow God to use the difficult things that we go through as times to transform and shape our character to be more and more like Jesus. And then offering a sacrifice of praise. Yeah, that's a good one. That's a beautiful turn of phrase if you think about it... a sacrifice of praise. Hebrews 13:15 says,"Through Jesus.. Mm-hmm... let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise. The fruit of lips, that openly professes name. So even if our circumstances are dire. Mm-hmm... if they're terrible... if we just can't see a way up or a way out and it's just complete darkness, we still have something to hope for.. Mm-hmm... because we have Jesus. Yeah. And if we have Jesus, even if the worst of the worst happens on this side of heaven, which we consider to be death.. Mm-hmm... for the believer, we're just gonna close our eyes here on Earth.. Yeah. And we're gonna open them.. Mm-hmm... in heaven looking into the face our savior and heaven. The, the word says..."Eye has not seen.. Yeah... and ear has not heard, nor has it even entered into the heart of man. Yeah. Like we can't even imagine what God has prepared.. Mm-hmm... for those who love him." Yeah. I think that's a verse that's filled with a lot of hope.

Keidra Hobley: 23:06

That's so good. I wanna circle back...'cause when you said in Hebrews 13:15 to offer a sacrifice of praise... it explained to us what praise is. Hmm. Praise is the fruit of our lips. Hmm. That openly professes his name. Right. Come on. You gotta open your mouth. Mm-hmm. Praise is a fruit of our lips. Right. And so you cannot praise the Lord out loud and remain in those same negative thoughts at the same time. So we gotta... okay... I am getting, I'm getting fired up. Lemme calm down. But we have to open our mouth and praise him.. That's right.. Aloud. Yes. Out loud. And that will help to restore your hope.

Susan Dies: 23:44

Right. And what makes it a sacrifice... is when you're going through hard times, it's the last thing we wanna do. Mm-hmm. We just wanna draw inward. Yeah. And we sometimes just wanna stay in it. Yeah. And yet the praise for our Lord, the fruit of our lips, as you just said... that's the thing.. Yeah... that's gonna change it. Yeah. Even in the circumstance I was talking about... just the shift in the way that I was speaking.. Mm-hmm... from the negative to the positive. Yeah. And then who I was speaking to. Yeah. Instead of talking to my sister or my husband, I thought, I need to talk to Jesus. Mm-hmm. And so it's just all of these little things that we can do.

Keidra Hobley: 24:22

Can I, can I talk to the believer real quick before you move on to the next thing? Because when we get to that place of hopelessness, we start to have thoughts like, oh, I don't even wanna go to church today. Hmm. Yep. And for some of us, unfortunately, that's the only place that we are willing to open our mouth to offer a sacrifice of praise. Hmm. So even more so, we should be going to church when we feel like we're getting to a place of hopelessness. So if that's you... and you have stayed home because of how you feel.. Just to show the devil that he does not have a hold on you.. Amen. I encourage you and I challenge you. Go back to church. Get up. Amen. Go back to church. Amen. In Jesus name. Amen.

Susan Dies: 24:57

You know, we've been talking about what it looks like to have hope, but I wanna change gears just a little bit.. Okay... as we're coming to the end of our time together today... to just really speak directly to those who may have lost hope. Mm-hmm. Because I know that there are many people out there who are facing circumstances in life that are just so overwhelming and they just can't fathom how things could ever get better. But no hope is not the worst place to be... because it's often when we come to this place in our life where we think there is no hope.. Yeah... we've tried everything, we've done everything we can think to do in our own strength. We've exhausted all of our own resources, including ourselves, and probably the people closest to us, and we come to the end of ourselves. That's when we're most open, a lot of times, to turning to God. It's often when we have nothing left but God that we finally turn to him and realize he's been there all along. Yeah. And that he loves us far more than we could ever imagine. That he's been waiting for us to turn to him so that he can pour out his love on us and show us that the hope that we so desperately need is found in him. And so our hope for you today is that you'll turn to him.. Yeah... for the hope that you need. And he may not immediately change the circumstances.. Right... but if we will fix our eyes on Jesus, he will fill our hearts with the hope and the peace and the joy that we need as we wait. Keidra, do you have any final thoughts, any words of hope for our listeners who are feeling a bit hopeless today?

Keidra Hobley: 26:25

I just wanna encourage you with, keep your mind focused on Jesus. I know that sounds a little cliche, but it's so true. And be conscious of what you think about. Know that he will lead you, guide you, orchestrate your steps. Those steps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord. Just continuing... I love that... to be obedient to his current instruction and stop worrying about how you're gonna get to the future destination. Be encouraged in the Lord. Know that he will lead you into what he has for you tomorrow.

Susan Dies: 26:52

I love that. Well, we're out of time today, but if you were encouraged by what you heard, please share the link to our podcast with others so that they too can be encouraged. And if you have an extra minute, we'd love to hear from you. You can leave us a comment, a rating, or a review right from the platform that you use to stream our podcast. And so thank you again for listening. Keidra, would you pray for us as we close today?

Keidra Hobley: 27:14

Absolutely. Father, we thank you so much that you are faithful, that you are where we find our hope. Help us to keep our faith and trust in you and you alone. Mm-hmm. Father, forgive us for anything or anyone else we've attempted to place our hope in and therefore have been disappointed. Lord, help us to continue to put on our full armor daily. Dear Lord, show us where we have allowed access to the enemy, allow us to repent, and to move forward in full confidence that you are our hope. We thank you for it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.