“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 is perhaps in the top five most quoted scriptures ever. You see it on t-shirts, bumper stickers, on notebooks and Facebook posts.

So, why is it then, that hope can be so hard to find?

All it takes is one scroll down the social media page of your choice to see that hope does not appear to be “out in the open.” If it were, wouldn’t the world seem far less hopeless?

I mean, if it’s not one thing, it’s another.

Gas prices, the economy, a global...