Habits of Hope: Cultivating a Deeper Life with God

3.How to Ignite Hope by Noticing God's Faithfulness Every Day

• Ginger Harrington • Season 1 • Episode 3

Share episode

Habit of Hope #3: Cultivate the habit of looking for God’s faithfulness each day.

Are you struggling to find hope in the midst of life’s challenges? Hope is closer than you think. It’s found in the habit of looking for God’s faithfulness, one day at a time. This episode is designed to help you overcome feelings of discouragement, stress, and uncertainty by noticing God’s faithfulness in your life. Today, we’re diving deep into the promises in Lamentations 3:23–24 and learning how to recognize God’s fresh mercies in our day. We chat about simple but powerful ways to shift your focus to how God is working in your life—even in small ways. Learn how noticing His mercies will restore your hope and energize your faith today. 

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by life’s demands or stuck in a cycle of negative thinking, this episode offers a lifeline. You’ll gain:

  • A New Way to See Challenges: Instead of focusing on what's going wrong, you’ll learn to see how God is working behind the scenes, turning difficulties into opportunities for spiritual growth.
  • Daily Encouragement: Practical steps and faith-building habits that you can incorporate into your routine, helping you stay grounded and hopeful even on tough days.
  • A Deeper Connection with God: As you develop the habit of noticing God’s faithfulness, you’ll find yourself drawn closer to Him, experiencing His presence in more tangible and meaningful ways.

Key Takeaways:

  • Mindset Shift: Changing your perspective to look for God’s faithfulness can significantly impact how you experience daily life, turning challenges into opportunities for spiritual growth.
  • God’s Promises: Understanding that God’s compassion and faithfulness are not based on your circumstances but on His unchanging character helps you stay grounded in difficult times.
  • Building Trust: Developing the habit of seeking God’s presence and faithfulness in the little things helps build trust for when bigger challenges come your way.
  • God’s Faithfulness is Personal: It’s not just about seeing God’s faithfulness in the lives of others but recognizing and believing that His faithfulness is for you, personally and individually.
  • Expectation, Not Entitlement: We should wait with hope and expectation for God’s faithfulness, trusting in His timing and ways, rather than feeling en

Habits of Hope: Cultivating a Deeper Life with God is for informational and inspirational purposes only. This podcast is not a substitute for professional advice—spiritual, medical, legal, or otherwise.

Ginger Harrington:
Over at Grateful Chick. Give us your exact Instagram handle.
It's just Grateful Chick, right?
Larissa:
Yes, Grateful Chick. We're on Instagram at Grateful Chick. Join us over there! We'll also get this up on YouTube later, so you can watch it in either place. But for now, because of technical difficulties, I'm going to close down StreamYard. One, two, three, bye!

So, all the craziness, right? Oh my goodness. This is why we need the habit of looking for God's faithfulness. Sometimes, in the moment, it doesn’t seem like God is faithful, right? It doesn’t seem like God is showing up in the craziness, stress, or problem with us. Often, we're depending on our emotions to sense His presence.

Anyway, welcome again! Take a deep breath; it’s all good because God is working in the midst of everything. So, Larissa, do we have any other friends who have hopped in that you want to say hello to?

Ginger Harrington:
You know, I’ve been studying all the tech pieces, but getting it all to work is a puzzle. This ties into something else we’ll talk about—recognizing and looking for God’s faithfulness. It’s about connecting what we know about God from Scripture and experiencing it. There’s a biblical word for that: gnosko. It’s one of my favorite biblical words, and it means knowing intimately through experience—not just with your head, but with your heart and your life.
Larissa:
Yes, I like that—knowing it with your life. That’s so good.

Ginger Harrington:
Let’s hop into our Scripture for today. Last time, we were together in Texas, and we did a couple of broadcasts. Now I’m in Virginia, and Larissa is in Texas. But thanks to technology, we can still broadcast together. So, Larissa, would you share the Scripture we’ll dig into today?

Larissa:
Yes! We’re talking about Lamentations 3:23–24. It’s one of my favorites. Ginger, you introduced me to this Scripture a long time ago. It says: “The Lord’s loving-kindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”

Ginger Harrington:
I love that. This is one of those verses that we often see on posters or t-shirts, but sometimes we get too comfortable with these truths. An important part of maintaining and growing our hope in God is coming to Scripture with fresh eyes every day. The verse says His mercies and loving-kindness are new every morning. But you know what? Our attitude, watchfulness, and intentionality should be new every morning too.

Larissa:
Amen! One of the translations I’ve studied says “fresh every morning.”

Ginger Harrington:
Yes, fresh every morning—let’s unpack this. First, what does the Lord’s loving-kindness mean? It’s His unceasing love, kindness, and mercy, as well as compassion that will not fail. Think about how kind actions or words make us feel. Now, imagine the Lord’s loving-kindness—His kindness never fails. How does that impact our lives in practical ways? It’s amazing when we stop to think about it.

Larissa:
Exactly! The fact that the Lord is kind to us is mind-blowing.

Ginger Harrington: 
Yes! And His loving-kindness means He is for us. On hard days, when I’ve failed or felt unaccepted, it’s easy to forget that God is for me. But His loving-kindness never stops. Sometimes we might feel like, “That’s true for other people, but not for me. Maybe I’ve done something wrong.” That’s a natural response from our soul. We tend to be suspicious of God sometimes, just like in the Garden of Eden when the enemy asked Adam and Eve, “Did God really say that?” (Genesis 3:1).

Larissa:
Right! Sometimes we think God is sitting there with a pointed finger, but He’s not. Yes, the Holy Spirit convicts us, and there are consequences for our actions, but He doesn’t hold a constant grudge. God corrects us in love, just like He loved Peter despite Peter’s mistakes.

Ginger Harrington: 
Exactly! Jesus corrected Peter lovingly even when Peter denied Him. And when we look at Lamentations, we see God’s compassion, which never fails. That’s a promise. His compassions are intrinsic to who He is, and His love is unfailing. It’s not based on us; it’s based on the character of God.

Larissa:
Amen! God is for us, even when we mess up. We can trust in His loving correction, knowing He’s faithful no matter what.

Ginger Harrington:
Yes, His faithfulness is new every morning, just as His compassions are. We can rest in that.

Ginger Harrington 
We might not see God's faithfulness in the moment, but if we hold on to the belief that His Word is true, we can expect Him to be faithful. Not out of entitlement, but because He said He would be. It’s important to remember that waiting with expectation is part of hope. Looking for God's faithfulness is an active practice.

Larissa:
Absolutely. Active faith is essential—believing God is faithful, even when we can’t see it. It’s about trusting His character.

Ginger Harrington: 
Exactly. It’s not a question of whether God will be faithful today, but rather how we’ll notice it. How will His loving-kindness manifest today? We need to have a mindset of watchfulness, an intentional habit of looking for God’s faithfulness. That’s what we’re talking about—building a habit of hope. Every day, we can ask God to help us notice His faithfulness. It can be as simple as starting the day in prayer: “Lord, show me Your faithfulness today. Help me see what You’re doing around me.”

Larissa:
Yes, I love that. I often pray to be a “noticer” of the good and of God. I start my day by thanking God for waking me up and for the day ahead. But I also ask Him to help me notice where He is working and to follow Him. It’s not about asking God to join us in what we’re doing, but aligning ourselves with what He’s doing. That’s been a huge shift in my perspective.

Ginger Harrington:
That’s a beautiful shift. And it’s important to remember that when we desire to cultivate this habit of looking for God’s faithfulness, the Holy Spirit put that desire in our hearts. Before we even thought of it, the Holy Spirit was working to enable us to hear this message today. We can trust Him to help us in this process. It’s not all on us to build this perfect habit—it’s a trusting process.

Larissa:
Yes! It’s not about being a “good Christian” by ticking off all the boxes every day. It’s about trusting God’s Spirit to guide us. I love that you emphasize that it’s a “with God” life. We are invited to abide with Him every day, living this organic union with Christ.

Ginger Harrington:
Exactly. We can start our day with faith and trust the Holy Spirit to guide us. Now, we’ve talked about asking God to help us notice His faithfulness and affirming that truth. Another key part is being grateful. We often express gratitude after God shows up, but we can also thank Him in advance for His faithfulness, even before we see it. If we believe that His faithfulness is new every morning, we can begin the day by saying, “Thank You, Lord, for how You’ll be faithful today. Help me to see it.”

Larissa:
That’s so powerful! Gratitude is a huge part of this. We can look back and remember God’s faithfulness in past situations, and that gives us confidence for the future. I’ve shared before that as a military spouse, I never had to worry about having a roof over my head, even though I didn’t always know how things would work out. God has always been faithful, even when the circumstances didn’t look the way I expected.

Ginger Harrington:
Exactly. That’s where trust and gratitude intersect. In difficult times or when we’re facing uncertainties, we can pray and remind ourselves of God’s past faithfulness, knowing He will provide again. That prayer of trusting God’s faithfulness can settle our hearts when we’re anxious or overwhelmed.

Larissa:
Yes, and that’s why it’s so important to build this habit in the good times. It’s much harder to cultivate this practice under pressure. We need to have this habit established, so when tough times come, it’s already part of how we walk with God.

Ginger Harrington:
Exactly. When we’ve built the habit of looking for God’s faithfulness daily, it strengthens us to persevere through tribulation. We’re not building this habit under stress, but gradually, day by day, it becomes part of our lives. And that’s where the real growth happens.

Larissa:
Yes, perseverance and active faith go hand in hand. Faith isn’t about seeing the outcome right away; it’s about trusting God through it all.

Ginger Harrington:
Absolutely. And let’s not forget the beautiful simplicity of believing God’s truth. Lamentations 3:23–24 reminds us that God’s compassion is new every morning and His faithfulness never fails. At the end of the day, we can reflect on where we saw God’s faithfulness.

Larissa:
Exactly. And that’s where gratitude comes in again. I love to end my day by writing down moments of God’s faithfulness, even the small things. It could be something as simple as a sweet moment with a friend, or something big, like a prayer answered. We don’t have to overcomplicate gratitude—it’s just about noticing and thanking God for His work throughout the day.

Ginger Harrington:
Yes! Gratitude is such a simple yet profound way to cultivate hope. And it’s a way to keep our eyes open to God’s work in our lives. Another helpful practice is the Daily Examen, an old Catholic tradition where, at the end of the day, you prayerfully reflect on where you saw God’s presence, where you felt connected to Him, and where you might have missed Him. Asking questions like, “Lord, where did I meet You today? Where did I experience Your presence? Where did I participate with You?” can really help us notice God’s faithfulness.

Larissa:
I love that. It’s such a practical and intentional way to reflect on the day. And it ties back to what we’ve been talking about—being active notice-ers of God’s faithfulness.

Ginger Harrington:
Exactly! Cultivating a habit of looking for God’s faithfulness takes intentionality, but it’s worth it. It helps us move from just knowing the Scripture to experiencing it. When we notice God’s faithfulness in our lives, it deepens our faith, strengthens our hope, and prepares us to persevere through difficult seasons.

Larissa:
Yes, and we’ve both experienced that in our own lives. God’s faithfulness is real, and we see it when we take the time to look for it.

Ginger Harrington:
So, friends, I encourage you to start your day with prayer, asking God to help you notice His faithfulness. And at the end of the day, take time to reflect and give thanks. Trust that His mercies are new every morning, and His faithfulness is for you, every day.

Larissa:
Amen. Thank you all for joining us today. We’re so grateful for this conversation and for the opportunity to share with you. God bless!

Ginger Harrington:
Yes, thank you! Don’t hesitate to reach out if something resonated with you. We’d love to hear from you. See you soon!