How to Overflow with Hope - iBelieve Truth: A Devotional for Women - November 3

Overflow with Hope
By Tiffany Thibault

May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 15:13

When my girls were younger, they loved to play tea party. They would lay out a fancy tablecloth and set the table with their play tea set. They would fill the plates with treats from the kitchen, and then dress up in their princess gowns with plastic tiaras tilted on their heads. They layered on as much of their jewelry as they could, and happily clunked around the house in my heels. They excitedly invited me, along with all of their favorite dolls, to feast at their tea party.

When they first began to host these tea parties, the tea party would be out on the patio or in the kitchen which had a tile floor. You see, these little girls, in their efforts to be the best hostess, would pour and pour and pour their “tea” (water) into my tea cup. They poured so much water that the “tea” filled the cup, overflowing onto the saucer and dripping onto the tea table and sometimes to the floor. They were unable to figure out how to stop pouring when the cup reached its limit.

As the tea party hostesses grew, they continued to have elaborate tea parties with me, progressing eventually to real china and actual tea. By this time, they had learned how to fill the cup without overflowing it.

Our verse talks about hope. My girls had many hopes for their tea parties. They wanted to feel pretty, all dressed up. They wanted to enjoy all the specialness that came along with playing hostess. They wanted to create a special moment for us.

In our lives we need hope. Hope is what we cling to, that promises that our tomorrow will be better, that things will somehow work out. Without hope we lose our focus and our strength to persevere.

This verse tells us that God is our hope. If we have a personal relationship with Him, then we can turn to him at all times. When we turn to Him, trusting that He has things under control, then we can move through our days with joy and peace. The interesting thing about our verse is that we must trust in Him first. Then he fills us with joy and peace. That in turn causes us to overflow with hope.

I need overflowing hope in the midst of my busyness, in the center of my struggles. I need overflowing hope more than ever before, as I move into a new phase of my girls nearing high school graduation and my parents growing older.

We desperately need hope that overflows our lives, in the new struggles that the Coronavirus has brought to our lives. Job losses, financial struggles, illness, fear. This world needs to see this hope in you. This verse promises you so much hope, that it overflows and changes those around you!

Hebrews 6:18 says to hold fast to the hope set before you (that’s Jesus). Will you join me today in trusting Jesus a little more than yesterday, holding tightly to the hope that He has already given you, the hope of salvation, the promise that He will provide for you, the truth that He will never leave you or forsake you? Can you trust that He will move and work in your life and through you today?

When my girls moved from their plastic tea set to my fine china, I reminded them to hold it tightly. I knew their little hearts would be devastated if they dropped it and it shattered. So their little fingers held it so tightly that their knuckles were white, yet their pinky was stinking out in the proper tea fashion (they thought).

As you hold onto the hope you already have, and are then filled with joy and peace as you completely trust Him for your circumstances, you better hold on tightly! God will begin to pour so much hope in you that it will overflow. Your life will certainly be changed by His hope, joy and peace.

Tiffany Thibault enjoys living life with her husband, two teenage daughters and one very large dog. She homeschools her girls, and loves to write and speak about Jesus. She loves long walks, coffee and anything chocolate. You can find her over at www.TiffanyThibault.com.

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If you've been feeling tired, overwhelmed, depleted, or just quietly wondering where God is in the middle of a very full life — this episode is for you. And honestly? It might be for me too, because I'm recording this in one of those seasons myself.

Today we're doing something a little different. Instead of going deep in a passage, we're talking about what to do when deep feels like too much — when you need less, not more. Specifically, I'm walking you through one of my favorite practices for weary seasons: handwriting scripture.

Not typing it. Not scrolling past it. Actually writing it out, slowly, in your own hand — because something happens in your brain when you do that. The words land differently. They go deeper. And over time, they become part of that personal library of God's voice that the Holy Spirit can pull from when you need it most. That's what Psalm 119:11 means when it says I have hidden your word in my heart — it's scripture moving into your long-term memory, where it lives and stays even when you haven't opened your Bible in weeks.

I'm sharing the five verses I wrote out for myself today — and why each one hit me fresh even though I've known some of them for years. This episode is part of our How to Study the Bible Podcast, a show that brings life back to reading the Bible and helps you understand even the hardest parts of Scripture. If this episode helps you know and love God more, be sure to follow the How to Study the Bible Podcast on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!