Faith vs. Hope

Last week a dear friend reminded me of a sermon that our pastor taught a while back on faith and hope. I found Bro. Hal's clarification of these two things very helpful to me right now.
Faith is believing what we read in God's word. Knowing that because He said it, it is true. We can put all of our stock in it because we know God and He always keeps His promises.
Hope on the other hand is knowing what God could do, but may not choose to do based on His sovereign and perfect will. I can have faith that Jesus is the Son of God. I can have faith that He will take care of me, love me, protect me, sanctify me and keep me until the last day. I can have faith that I will be with Him for all eternity.
Hope is different and I'm learning to differentiate the two in my own heart. I can hope that my children will be saved one day. I can hope that Mrs. Judy will healed of cancer. I can't have faith that she will. I can pray for it and beg God for it to be so, but if His plan is different, then I have to have faith that He knows better than I. I have to have faith that ALL things work together for our good and His glory. You might think that Mrs. Judy's good would be for her to be healed. That would be very good. But maybe the greater good for her would be to take her home. Believe me...I'm praying fervently that this is not the case for a really, really long time. It pains me to even say it. But I have to have faith that God sees what I can't see and is in control. I am not.

So I've been examining what I've been confusing in my own heart and mind. Have the lines of faith and hope been crossed when considering my future? I have realized that I have been dwelling too much on my "hope" for my future. I have been hoping that God would bring all this pain and sadness to a beautiful ending. And the beautiful ending is very narrow-minded from my view. A beautiful ending would be me remarried while my children are still young and God giving me a godly, wonderful husband that loves me (novel idea, huh?) and leads me and cares for Benjamin and Cait deeply. That would be a beautiful ending!!! But.... I can't have hope in this picture. It would be wonderful! And PLEASE!!! Don't stop praying for this friends!!!! But I can't have FAITH that this is what God will do for me. Perhaps His plan is singleness for me. Maybe it is the perfect tool to sanctify me. Maybe not. I don't know. But I do know that I can't rest in any of these ideas or circumstances.

So, I have no problem hoping for so many good things that God could do (allow me to stay home with my kids, homeschooling, be married to a godly man, etc., etc. ) But I think I need to take my focus off my hopes. The hopes will never go away and don't even need any cultivating or fostering. What I need to cultivate is my faith in what I know God will do. That's where my mind needs to be. That's where my heart needs to rest. I need to make God my God and not turn my hopes into my god.

God I am so weak! Help me to have faith in you alone! Help me not love the good gifts you give or the hope of future gifts more than You!!