Our vision is to be a movement of hope for the city and beyond. Hope is the confident expectation in the goodness of God. But, we are sensing there has been an erosion of hope that God wants to restore in us today. Let’s keep that in mind as we discuss the following questions:

1. Read Psalms 42:11. Sometimes what feels like lost hope is actually misplaced trust. Where is the Holy Spirit revealing misplaced trust in your life? And, how is He inviting you to put your hope back in God?

2. Read Psalms 39:7. We often look for hope in all the wrong places. What are you looking for and where have you been looking?

3. Read Lamentations 3:19-24. Grief and hope can exist at the same time. Where have you seen God meet you with hope in the middle of something hard?

4. Read Jeremiah 29:11-13. Control and apathy are by-products of hopelessness in our lives. Control causes us to tighten our grip on things while apathy causes us to live like there is no point in anything. Where might either of these be present in your life today and what is God bringing to your attention?

5. Read Romans 15:4. Endurance and encouragement help us cultivate hope inside of us. We are called to hold onto hope and encourage one another. Who is someone you can intentionally carry hope to this week, and how will you do it?

Holy Spirit, will you restore our hope?

• Next week we’ll kick off "An Invitation to a Good & Beautiful Life" which will go through the fall semester. Discover more at valleycreek.org/agoodandbeautifullife and check out ways to use the kit if you have one.

• You can engage the word of God with the Valley Creek family by using the daily reading plan. Find it and start engaging at valleycreek.plus/readingplan.

• There are more resources on hope and being a hope carrier at valleycreek.plus and at hopecarrier.com.