Christians hope. This hope isn’t like the rest of the world’s hope—one of wishful thinking, of hoping for the best. The Christian hope is based on Christ, on the promises of redemption.It’s not a mere crossing of the fingers, but a certainty. And our Heavenly Father never wants us to second-guess this hope—even when our prayers go unanswered.

When we are praying for something—and praying hard for it—it can be easy to lose hope when God tells us no. We become frustrated, worn-out, and exhausted. But in those moments of frustration and exhaustion is when God wants us to persevere in prayer with hope-filled hearts. He wants us to keep asking, no matter the outcome. Our faithful prayers reveal if we truly trust him.

Let’s think about this from a real-world perspective. Imagine your spouse just got diagnosed with stage-four brain cancer. From a purely scientific standpoint, the odds are slim—there’s practically no hope. Yet, as a person of sincere and abiding faith in God, you pray. You pray everyday for your spouse to be healed. And everyday, she gets worse. Everyday her condition deteriorates. You believe God can heal her but, as of that moment, he hasn’t. Then you start to get discouraged and upset. Who wouldn’t be? You see that God is not answering your prayer and you become disheartened.

What should you do in this situation? Stop praying? By every indication, your spouse is about to pass away and God isn’t answering your prayer. Or do you become persistent in prayer and keep asking, keep pleading, keep crying out to the Lord through your stream of tears? You know he doesn’t guarantee good health, but you know he is a God of miracles and can heal anybody of anything. So you keep praying despite knowing all your prayers for present-day, this-world healing could go unanswered.

Nevertheless, you are certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she will experience ultimate healing the moment she passes into the presence of Jesus in glory.

You know God will either perform miraculous healing or will rid her of sin when she passes.

Either way, God is good.