responsive-logo
  • Home
  • About
  • Keep Breathing
    • Keep Breathing: Introduction
    • Part 1
      • Stay Grounded
      • Keep Breathing
      • Gather Information
      • Feel What You Feel
      • Take in Support
      • Pray
      • Practice Surrender
      • Notice Your Reactivity
    • Part 2
      • Realize What Is Happening to You
        Is Happening To Everyone in Your Life
      • Take Inventory
      • Let Go of Shame
      • Extend Grace
      • Show Up
      • Learn Vulnerability
      • Make Amends
      • Stay Present in Times of Waiting
    • Part 3
      • Be Still and Keep Moving
      • Know You Are Not Alone
      • Ask for Healing
      • Seek Guidance
      • Meditate
      • Pursue Peace
      • Acknowledge Death
      • Grieve
    • Part 4
      • Express Gratitude
      • Stay Open to Joy
      • Make Room for Laughter
      • Celebrate Each Day
      • Let Yourself Be Carried
      • Be Who You Are
      • Know That You Are Loved
  • Desperate Hope
    • Shocked by the Diagnosis
    • Responding to Feelings of Fear, Anxiety, and Sadness
    • Ordering Desperate Hope
  • TLC Leader’s Manual
    • Group Leader Resources
      • Introduction to TLC
      • Meeting Format
      • Notes to Group Leaders
      • When a Group Member Dies
    • Strong Feelings
      • Understanding our Feelings
      • The Emotional Roller Coaster
      • Living With Fear
      • Dealing With Depression
      • Living with Anger
      • Grieving Our Losses
      • The Experience of Gratitude
      • Celebration and Joy
      • Experiencing Peace
      • Finding Hope
    • Challenges to Faith
      • Stretching Our Faith
      • Prayer
      • Examining Our View of God
      • Healing Prayer
      • The Lord Is With Us
      • God’s Healing Presence
    • Changing Perspectives
      • The Seasons Of Survival
      • Living Sanely in An Insane World
      • One Day At A Time
      • Positive Thinking
      • Accepting Our Need for Help
      • Building Friendships
      • Perspectives on Treatment
      • Coping With Pain
      • Repairing Our Self Esteem
  • Contact

Finding Hope

For I know the plans I have for you,
declares the Lord,
plans to prosper you
and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

Hope. We cannot go on living without it. Without hope we sink into a dark pit of despair from which there seems to be no way out. And we give up.

Cancer sometimes threatens our hope. It is not uncommon in our journey with cancer to fall into despair. We wonder if things will ever get better for us. We may begin to fear that they will get worse.

Hope is a gift from God. It is the ability to trust that God does have good things in mind for us, even though we cannot always see what they are.

Sometimes medical personnel say things that threaten our hope for life and health. The doctor may tell us that our prognosis is poor, or that there is nothing they can do about the pain we have. We need to listen carefully to our doctors. But we also need to remember that they are not God. They do not have the final word about the outcome of our cancer.

It is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between denial and hope. But there is a difference. Denial is an inability to take in the reality of the events in our lives. It is an unavoidable response to threatening realities. Denial protects us from acute emotional pain that would otherwise overwhelm us. Denial keeps us from full awareness of the truth until we are ready to face that truth. As we are able, we move out of denial and see reality more clearly and feel our emotions more fully.

Hope is not moving back into denial. Nor is it fleeing into a fantasy world where everything turns out fine or where there are no problems.

Hope is knowing that God is with us in all of life’s circumstances. It is hanging onto God’s hand while facing reality. It is remembering that God’s plans for us are good, even when our circumstances are difficult.

Hope is an orientation toward the future, a future that is in the hands of a loving God.

May the God of hope fill you
with 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


Questions for Discussion – Session 1

1. What things threaten your hope?

2. When have you felt especially hopeless?

3. What restores your hope?


Questions for Discussion – Session 2

1. How would you define hope?

2. What are you looking forward to in the near and in the distant future?

3. What do you know about God that gives you reason to hope?

Share this page:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

TLC Leader’s Manual

A photocopy-ready version of the TLC Leader's Manual is now available for download. If you are thinking about starting a Cancer Support Group, this might be helpful!

PDF version

MSWord version

Quote of the moment

"One of the things that we tend to dislike about our feelings is that they are not always rational. We feel things that don’t make logical sense to us. . . But our feelings do not go away simply because we try to dismiss them as irrational. On the contrary, the more we resist them because we don’t want to feel them, the more they seem to lay claim on our attention and our limited energy. "
Juanita Ryan

Copyright © 2025 Together Living With Cancer · Disclaimer · Privacy Policy - Log in

We use cookies to ensure that you have the best experience on our website. If you continue to view the site, we will assume that this is OK. For details see our privacy policy.OkPrivacy policy