Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. (1 Peter 1:3-4, ESV)
Not recognizing the number on my screen, I returned my attention to the speaker. USGA … I’ve got some exciting news for you flashed on the voicemail notification. I jumped out of my seat and sprinted out into the Texas heat.
“We have a spot for you at the 2025 US Senior Women’s Open.” Before she finished her sentence, I blurted, “I’m in!” My body exploded with electricity, and emotion flooded my eyes.
A month ago, I played a very poor and disappointing round at my Senior Open Qualifier. After a two-hole playoff, I grabbed the first alternate spot for our site and drove the two hours home exhausted and feeling like a failure.
Disappointment has ebbed and flowed like waves of the ocean. Some days more intensely than others.
In his Wednesday Word Devotional, Paul Tripp audaciously writes, “Everybody is motivated by hope. Human beings are not like animals, living moment by moment by instinct. No matter who we are or what we have experienced, we live by hope (July 19, 2017).”
It has taken effort to remain hopeful of getting into the championship. In the waiting, I also had to accept that it might not happen.
Living by hope isn’t easy, but Tripp suggests three basic elements to hope: “Hope begins with an assessment. Hope morphs into an expectation. Hope requires an object.”
The formation of hope through assessment is realizing that we are created to need something outside ourselves to be satisfied. We make this assessment either grounded in God’s Word or by worldly influences.
Once we have our assessment for what will satisfy us, we move towards hopeful expectation that we will find it. I assessed that I needed to qualify for the US Senior Women’s Open to be happy, to be satisfied.
In the five weeks that I waited with an expectant hope for a call from the USGA, the Holy Spirit went to work in my heart. I wrestled through my disappointment. I named that playing in the Open was dangerously becoming an idol. And with hopeful expectation, I purchased an airline ticket.
The most important tug on my spirit, regardless of whether I got the call or not, was to redirect my living hope back to the only object that ultimately brings my soul satisfaction.
Whether we are in the valley of our deepest problems and trials, or on top of a mountain high, our hopeful expectation solely belongs to the living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for being the object of my living hope today and always.