In 2014, I awoke from a dream. The dream had lasted about eight months. It was a really long dream. Or a nightmare more like.

The preceding June, I had been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. That launched a six-month aggressive chemo treatment, a battle between the cancer and the chemo in which I essentially was collateral damage. For most of those months, I just felt numb … and sick.

The chemo finally won the war, and I was declared cancer free. I survived through the support and prayers of my church family.

And then to my surprise, coming out of the treatment, I got hit with depression. One theory of depression is that it’s caused by a chemical imbalance. I had just spent six months being bombarded with chemicals. So why not? In any case, after coming face to face with mortality, I couldn’t stop thinking about death and wondering what would next be coming to get me or a loved one.

I’m not ashamed to say that I got through that time with the help of pharmaceuticals my doctor prescribed. That and reinventing myself, cycling with friends, and getting involved in ministry. The grandkids were also a big help.

Eventually, I woke up from the long nightmare and resumed my life.

Having hope isn’t always easy, especially these days. Sometimes it feels like everything we’ve ever held dear is being stripped away. A long time ago, I gave up on watching TV news. And there are days when I force myself away from reading news (even from reliable sources) just for my own mental health.

In short, the present circumstances aren’t great for hope. But then hope — real hope — isn’t based on circumstances. Real hope isn’t like, “Oh, I hope it won’t rain.” It’s much more gritty than that.

G.K. Chesterton, the great Christian writer of one hundred years ago, said, “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all.” Did you catch that? What does he mean?

The apostle Paul said in 1 Cor 13:13, “these three remain: faith, hope and love.” Which makes hope a Christian virtue. But Chesterton says that for hope to be virtuous, you have to be hopeful in bad times. Anybody can be hopeful when you’re healthy and have plenty of money and things are going your way. When hope really counts is when things are awful.

Just like how faith, to be a virtue, requires things not seen (Heb 11:1) and love requires unlovable people (Luke 6:35).

We are called to hope in desperate times. And these times fit the bill perfectly.

Fortunately, we are also given a promise. Isaiah 40:31 says, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.” Of course, it doesn’t really specify how long we’ll have to wait to be renewed. We just trust it will happen … sometime.

But that’s what hope is for.