Show Notes
How to Rejoice in Hope | Romans 12:12 Bite-Sized Biblecast | Part 1
Episode Summary:
In this episode, I dig into Romans 12:12: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” If you’re in a season that feels like the never-ending refining fire, this verse can feel like an impossible ask. Honestly, it can even feel like toxic positivity. So together, let’s break down how to actually live it out. I share why rejoicing in hope and trusting God isn’t surface-level mental gymnastics but a faith-driven action. I talk openly about my own season of really freaking hard: single motherhood, legal battles, and the real way grief and hope can coexist. Along the way, I offer practical action steps to help you focus on gratitude, recognize God’s faithfulness, and let the hard things in life draw us closer to Him. If you need biblical encouragement that meets you right where you are (in less than 10 minutes!), this bite-size episode is exactly what your heart needs.
Key Points with Timestamps:
- Diving into Romans 12:12 (00:00):
Romans 12:12 is explored as a call to rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer—especially when walking through refining fire seasons. - Honest talk about hope (01:00):
Praise isn’t about faking positivity; rejoicing in hope means remembering God’s real faithfulness and choosing truth over toxic positivity. - Pain and gratitude can coexist (03:00):
Hard things don’t disqualify the presence of gratitude; it’s possible to mourn real losses while still finding hope. - Looking back to move forward (05:00):
Reflecting on my story—like single motherhood and unexpected loss—reminds me how brokenness can become the turning point to deeper faith. - Cultivating biblical hope in practical ways (06:30):
Journaling God’s faithfulness, drawing on church community, and hearing testimonies from others help ground my hope. - Preview of what’s coming next (07:30):
A special prayer and phone wallpaper will be shared in upcoming parts two and three, with encouragement to tune in and keep building hope.
Supporting Verses:
- Romans 12:12, ESV
“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
This is the foundational verse of the episode and provides direction for enduring hard seasons. - John 16:33, ESV
“In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Hope comes from Jesus’s victory, not from easy circumstances. - Luke 12:6, ESV
“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.”
Even struggles that seem small in comparison matter to God.
What’s Next?
- Take a few minutes to reflect on times when God was faithful in your own life. Write them down as Ebenezer stones
- Talk with a friend or church community about your struggles; you’re not meant to do faith alone.
- When you’re tempted to compare your pain, remember God cares deeply about what you’re facing—there’s room for both grief and gratitude.
- Practice real praise: thank God for one specific blessing or answered prayer, even in a tough week.
- Set a reminder to tune in for part two, where you’ll get a guided prayer and a free phone wallpaper to encourage your heart!
Topics Covered:
- Romans 12:12 explained
- Biblical hope during trials
- Real-life testimony of faith
- Gratitude and grief coexisting
- Spiritual disciplines for hard seasons
- How to avoid toxic positivity
Related Posts and Episodes:
Social Media Links:
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Pinterest: @rachgrit
YouTube: @rachelgrit
Transcript
Rachel Grit 0:00
If you only have a couple minutes for scripture this morning, I got you here’s today’s bite size Bible cast. So today we’re reading out of Romans. We’re in chapter 12, verse 12, rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. And if you are in a season of like the refining fire, like I am, this feels like a very tall order, so let’s talk about it and how to actually, like, practically do it, because it’s not as easy as just, oh, I’m gonna hope in God. I think we all know that at this point, hoping and trusting in God are actions, and they require effort, and especially when you’re in a season where it seems like you’re being drained of your energy, that can seem like the last thing you have capacity for. Sorry, my dog is being a psycho right now. If you’re hearing scuffling noises, that’s her trying to get attention right now, we’ve got three sections here to this verse, So let’s break it down and then put an action step to every single part of it. So step one, we have rejoice in hope. And I don’t remember where I heard it said or how exactly I heard it phrased, but I heard a quote something along the lines of, it’s difficult to feel stressed and anxious when you are focused on praise, when you are kind of crowding out the darkness in your life with praise, and that can feel like toxic positivity, and it’s honestly easy to slip into toxic positivity, but praising the Lord for the good things he has done. And that being based in reality is very different from like, wow, everything’s great because I follow Jesus, because that’s not true. Scripture literally promises that we will have trials and tribulations, but then that second part of that verse is, but take heart, for I have overcome the world. The reality is we live in a fallen world. The reality is all of us are bound to experience absolutely devastating trials from time to time and again. Pain is relative. Just because there’s terrible things happening elsewhere in the world does not mean what’s happening to you or to me or to your neighbor Isn’t life altering and devastating. God’s love is big enough to encompass all of us, and His compassion and mercy are enough to encompass all of us. So just like the verse that says he cares about the sparrow that falls to the ground, even if you’re wrestling with, well, okay, what I’m dealing with, isn’t that bad in comparison to the rest of the world. God still cares about that. Scripture also says to mourn with those who mourn and to rejoice with those who rejoice. So whatever you’re dealing with, if you’re anything like me, maybe you struggle sometimes with, well, what I’m what I’m going through, isn’t that bad compared to what others have to deal with. And that can very much be true. We can be grateful for the fact that things could be worse. To phrase it very poorly, things absolutely could be worse, and there can be things to be grateful for in that gap, but it’s also okay to mourn when you lose something. It’s also okay to be devastated when something hits you. It’s also okay to be completely broken by something that happens in your life. Because guess what? The things that break us can be what turn us to God, I know that’s absolutely been the case for me, if you don’t know any of my story. A couple years ago, when my son was four months old, I became a single mom, literally overnight, my entire life just blew up and fell apart, and suddenly I didn’t know what tomorrow was gonna look like. I was looking at raising a baby for the first time, completely by myself. I was looking at intense, expensive, brutal legal battles on multiple fronts from people that I thought loved me, and over the years, God has been so incredibly faithful, but it’s also okay that that was really, really hard. So in my case specifically, and it can be the case for you as well, my life absolutely exploding. Everything I knew the future I thought I had for myself, completely being decimated beyond repair, never to be the same was what drove me to my knees. It was what drove me to seek God with this hunger that I’d never had before. And I grew up in the church. I grew up going to Christian School. I know all of the Sunday School answers. I have forgotten more about being a Jesus follower than a lot of people have the privilege and opportunity to learn in their lives. What made it real for me was it being my lifeline. And so whatever you are dealing with, knowing that God is there and feeling it are two different things, and there’s a journey in between those two points and rejoicing in our hope is a huge, huge part of that. So what can that look like? How do we keep from shifting into this toxic positivity mindset of, oh, everything’s fine, and I’m just going to convince myself of it. I’m going to name it and claim it and then believe it, fake it till I make it all the like weird, rhymey things. How do we actually. Do that, and that’s by focusing on what’s true. There’s plenty of things in the Bible that we can look at and go, Wow, God, you are so faithful. You are so wonderful. You are amazing. The story of how he created the world, rescued us from our fall, sent His only Son to die for us and give us hope, so that we are able to continue on and be with him in this beautiful, perfect relationship. There is so much there that we can point at and go, Wow, God, objectively, you are amazing. This is fantastic. Looking at the past in our lives can also be a good time or a good way to go back and see, okay, what has God done? And framing things through the lens of Okay, where can I see God’s faithfulness in the past that maybe I didn’t realize before. I would highly recommend taking some time with your journal. Ask God to show you the times that he has been faithful. Write them down. The concept of Ebenezer stones in Scripture is really beautiful, where you can set these almost like mental monuments to God and have these set points in time of okay, when I’m feeling low, when I am feeling like everything is falling apart, I can look back to these specific instances in my life where God was there and God did something amazing, and God was faithful to his character. Another way that we can find hope to rejoice in is by talking to other people who have gone through things. So being part of a church is really, really huge. It’s not just about following the rules. It is very much about community and fellowship. And being able to talk to other believers and honestly draw inspiration from their faith walks is huge. I have several friends who have had God show up in absolutely mind blowing ways. And, yeah, it’s really cool to see what God has done through the Bible and going, Wow, God, you led Israel out of Egypt, you parted the Red Sea. But it it just is a little bit different when you personally know the person one to one, and can talk to them about their personal recent experiences with God. So we can find inspiration and things to genuinely put our hope in, not muster hope, not toxic positivity, hope. We can genuinely find things to put hope in and rejoice in that hope by looking back at scripture, looking back at our own lives and looking at the lives of other people around us who trust and know God and honestly, the internet can also be a really great source of this. Facebook groups are fantastic. You know, there’s a lot of bad that the internet can do, but there’s also so much good. So that’s a little that’s a little bonus one for you. So the first part here of Romans 1212. Rejoice in hope. Don’t manufacture it. Ask God to show you what your hope should be, and ask Him to show you places where you can trust Him and rely on him and draw on him for strength. Oh, and you know what? I think we’ll actually finish the next two in two parts, because this was a lot longer than I wanted it to be. So we just I’ll read it one more time. The verse in total, Romans, 1212, rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. And I will do part two in a little bit, maybe tomorrow. But ultimately, what this is leading up to is a prayer that God helped me write on leaning on him, drawing strength from him in the actual moment. Verbal surrender is a tool that’s so incredibly powerful that I have used a lot in my life, and that has really made a huge difference. And so I have a prayer that God helped me write that I’ve turned into a little like cute fall themed phone wallpaper. So stick around. At the end of part three, I will share a link to that so you can download it. But yeah, so follow for part two and three, there’s two parts coming. This is one. Follow for part two and three. I.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
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