That’s a fundamental question of life. It’s asked every day by countless people in countless ways: when sitting in the doctor’s office awaiting test results, when a couple puts months and months into counseling and gets nowhere, when dealing with a tax accountant in bankruptcy court, or when a family hears their child is missing.

You can survive 40 days without food, three days without water, and eight minutes without air. But you can’t last a single second without hope. It’s an essential part of life. When hope is gone, life is over.

People everywhere are looking for hope in all the wrong places. They look for it in their relationships, in self-help books, in religion, and in self-righteousness.

But there is only one place to find real hope. The Bible says real hope is found by turning to God: “May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in him. Then you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13 GW).

You need that kind of hope. And it’s only available through a relationship with Jesus Christ. When you trust in him, the Holy Spirit works in you to fill you with hope that God is in control, he loves you, and he is working for your good.

That kind of hope will lift you from despair and give you room to breathe.