Visual Journal Prompt: Despair
Best Prayer Journal for Despair Below
Rooted or Shaken
Despair can feel suffocating, a darkness that seems to swallow all light and hope.
Despair can feel like a weight that crushes all hope. When we rely on our own strength or on temporary good things, our hope is fragile, like roots that barely reach the soil, easily broken by life’s storms.
Consider the olive tree. It withstands drought, scorching heat, poor soil, and even fire, not because it avoids suffering, but because its roots runs so deep, drawing nourishment from a hidden source beneath the surface, far beyond the reach of immediate hardship.
Hope rooted in Christ is like the olive tree’s deep roots. It draws from a strength unshaken by hardship, from a source that endures every season. This is real hope, for Jesus is the foundation of all hope, the One who has overcome the world.
Finding Roots
Despair whispers that there is no escape. Yet, is there truly no way out? Human hope, when anchored only in fleeting good news or our own strength, is like a shallow root, fragile and vulnerable to every storm and drought.
But the olive tree shows us a different kind of hope. It survives harsh droughts and fire because its roots grow deep, drawing life from hidden waters below. This kind of hope doesn’t promise an easy life, it promises endurance. Rooted in something deeper than circumstances, it helps us stand firm when everything around us feels like it’s falling apart
Scripture
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
John 16: 33 (ESV)
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”
Romans 5: 3-4 (ESV)
Quote
“Suffering is unbearable if you aren’t certain that God is for you and with you.” - Tim Keller
Stories
Elijah under the broom tree, Hagar in the desert, job in the ashes, Jesus in Gethsemane
Humanity Reflection
Research shows that hope often arises not in the absence of struggle, but through it.
Best Prayer Journal for Despair Below
Journal Prompts
Where have I placed my hope recently and has it held up under pressure?Consider where your heart instinctively turns for security, relief, or meaning. Has that source proven steady, or has it left you shaken?
What parts of my faith feel slow to grow and could that be God’s intentional pace?
Reflect on a part of your life that feels stalled or fruitless. What might God be nurturing beneath the surface that you cannot yet see?
When life feels dry or overwhelming, what do my roots reach for?
In hard seasons, what sustains you? Are you drawing from God’s Word, prayer, or community or from something less life-giving?
.How has suffering shaped a deeper, more resilient hope in me?
Look back on a time of pain or waiting. What did you learn about God? How did He meet you there and how might that shape the way you hope today?
Let your journaling be like the olive tree in drought, turning quietly from the weight of despair and reaching deep toward the hidden source of hope found in Christ, because he can hold it.