What is “HOPE”?

by: Staci Stallings

As you’ve probably noticed, I try to name my series something inspirational. So “The Grace Series,” “The Courage Series,” “The Faith Series.”  I’m currently publishing and writing the “Hope” Series, which has given me the chance of pondering hope—what it means, where it comes from, what takes it away, and where we get it.

The elevator version of this series is this:  Girl meets guy. Guy likes girl. Girl’s been hurt badly. Guy and girl are thrown into a life-or-death situation, which makes guy fall madly (even mindlessly) in love with girl. But his ardor freaks girl out. She can’t seem to trust… well, anything.  Not him. Not the relationship, and honestly, not even life.

So as I look at hope through the lens of someone who’s lost it, I’m coming to realize that hope is really about trust. However, that begs the question, trust in what or whom?

I would dare say that most relationships today are based on hope.  People get together, and hope for a new or better life enters with the other person.  Often hope grows and becomes love. Problems come when the other person proves to be human and the trust the other person has in them is shattered. Hope disintegrates, and the relationship falls apart.

The problem, as with most things in the world, is that “hope” was never meant to be embodied in anyone other than Jesus Christ. If your hope is in anything or anyone else, you’re doomed to get smashed on the rocks of life eventually. That’s not a bad thing.  It’s usually about the point that people find God, and He restores their hope.

But, oh, is it rough getting there!

I have to say, in writing this series, I’m learning how deeply important trust really is.  First, trusting God, and then trusting each other.  I’m learning that when someone puts their trust in you, that is an incredibly big responsibility—one, I honestly think, we cannot live up to without God infusing our very being. Only God can be perfectly trustworthy.  And only meshed with God can we hope to be anywhere close to perfectly trustworthy with each other.

That’s what Jenna is learning in “Some Say Love,” the third book I’m writing now.  It’s what Scott began to get acquainted with in “A Time to Love,” the second book, and what he’ll come to a rock-solid understanding of in “Some Say Love.”

What’s really funny to me is that there was never (in my agenda) supposed to be a second or third book. Those only came about because a good friend said the first book, Flight 259, couldn’t be a stand-alone because the whole thing was too unrealistic and fantasy romance novel.

There had to be more to the story because it was too much the fantasy romance rather than my normal reality romances. I see now that she was right.

In fact, this became even funnier the other day when I got a review for “Flight 259” with the heading: “Great story-line but needs to be a little more realistic…”

Well, honey, hold onto your hat because the next two are going to be more “realistic” than romance novels EVER get. To the point that even I didn’t like the hero at one point, and my reader told me she wanted to smack him and tell him to get lost!

Talk about losing trust in another person and learning you have to find it in God and put Him in the center of the relationship for it to have a fighting chance!

No, real love and learning to trust someone is not an easy road. This series definitely makes that point… you know, once you get past that “unrealistic” beginning, which in my defense was written before anyone on the planet even thought about writing “realistic” romance.

So buckle up, readers, because I’m telling you now, “The HOPE Series” is one bumpy ride, and I’m not just talking about that whole plane crash thing…

*¨*★☆ The HOPE Series! ☆★¸.•*¨*

SERIES LINK:  https://www.amazon.com/Hope-2-Book/dp/B074MFZMK9

Do you believe in Second Chances?

Y O U   W I L L !

FLIGHT 259 (Kindle Unlimited OR 99Cents!)  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EM3SW2S

A TIME TO LOVE (Available for PREORDER for 99Cents!) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074JD2Y27

SOME SAY LOVE (Coming Soon!)

Staci Stallings (87 Posts)

A stay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side, Staci Stallings has numerous titles for readers to choose from. Not content to stay in one genre and write it to death, Staci’s stories run the gamut from young adult to adult, from motivational and inspirational to full-out Christian and back again. Every title is a new adventure! That’s what keeps Staci writing and you reading. Although she lives in Amarillo, Texas and her main career right now is her family, Staci touches the lives of people across the globe with her various Internet and writing endeavors.