Hope in the Midst of Hardship

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A Story of Hope

I once heard the story of a man whose life was changed by hope. Not much is known about his youth, but what we do know indicates it was not pleasant. Abandoned at boarding school during the holidays, he experienced the loneliness of watching all of the other children rush home to the loving arms of their families while he alone remained. It seems his father was distant, unkind, and unapproachable for much of his younger years. And although there are indications that this may have changed over time, the seeds of suffering were sown. Yet in the midst of those early years of poverty, there were moments of hope, of joy. He had not yet lost sight of the beauty of humanity. In the childlikeness of his little sister he found love and laughter. In his first boss he experienced someone who could fill others’ hearts with gratitude. He still saw goodness in the world.

But over time the hardness of the world caught up to him, and the idol of greed, of self-preservation, took hold in the fertile ground of his fear. As his fiancée expressed in the moment of breaking off their engagement,

“You fear the world too much,” she answered, gently. “All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrosses you.”1

For years, this selfish ambition, founded in fear, defined his life, handicapping every relationship he made and trapping him in a world of negativity. But one day that all changed when he was given a chance to see his life laid out before him, his past, his present, and his future, and his eyes were opened to his ability to alter his course. His eyes were opened to hope.

Hope and the Freight Recession

You may have guessed by now that the story I am talking about is that of Ebenezer Scrooge, the central figure of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol. This tale is rich with enduring wisdom that has drawn people back to it time and time again (as seen in the whopping 200+ filmed adaptations of the story).2 But there is one overarching theme in the book that recently stood out to me, that being the importance of hope.

Many of us may have started out in the trucking industry full of hope. Maybe it provided you with a steady income as a driver, or maybe you had bold plans to create a trucking company that enabled both you and your multitude of employees to thrive. But then, over time, the hardships of the industry hit. It’s common knowledge that we operate in an industry that has seasons of prosperity and seasons of drought that come and go like waves, and this pattern has always led to some trials. But it is hard to deny that the current freight environment we find ourselves in has been particularly challenging.

The length of this freight recession is arguably unprecedented in modern times, with some calling it the “Great Freight Recession.” The excess capacity of drivers post-COVID is an undeniable factor in this. Partner this oversupply with inflation, increasing insurance premiums, and the unpredictable implications of a somewhat chaotic tariff policy, and we find ourselves in the difficult position we are in today.3 And on top of all this, the perennial challenges remain, such as the difficulty in finding qualified drivers.

Now we could spend hours discussing the reasons there are for optimism when looking into the future of the market. Ironically, some of the most painful aspects of this current downturn, namely those companies that have had to shutter their windows and the drivers who have lost their jobs, could be preparing the ground for a new harvest for those who remain. Simply put, the decrease in supply of drivers should lead to an increase in freight rates, potentially propelling the trucking industry into a time of prosperity.4 And in these signs of turnaround, we can find hope.

But instead of diving into all of the reasons why hope can be found in the season to come, I want to focus on the ability we have to find hope where we are. In the midst of the downturn we have all experienced, it is easy to fall into a similar mindset as Scrooge. When faced with financial hardships, we often turn to self-preservation, putting gain first and unknowingly pushing away those we love most. Many times this happens without us even noticing it, similar to Scrooge who found himself blind to the way his love towards his fiancée had changed. And it’s easy to get stuck in these mindsets, thinking they are simply the way of the world, but all the while living caged lives, barred by our fear, isolation, and selfishness. But even if you don’t believe you’ve altered this much, maybe you can see some areas where, like Scrooge, your “nobler aspirations” have fallen away, where your hope in the possibility of something greater has faded, and the dimness of “reality” has set in.

The Transformative Power of Hope

The thing about Scrooge’s story that stands out to me the most is that the circumstantial position he finds himself in at the beginning of the book and the one he finds himself in at the end are basically identical. He doesn’t come into some vast amount of wealth that makes him feel secure enough to be generous. No living person interacts with him in any life-altering way. Fundamentally, his life looks the same. The only change that happens is his mindset, his values, and the newly discovered hope he has that a better life is possible.

Many times we feel like that hope is gone. Scrooge himself shared this worry after seeing the future his current path would lead to. When being shown his own tomb by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, he cries out in agony, questioning whether the events he had been shown are destined to come to pass or if there is any possibility of altering his course. He bellows to the Spirit, “Why show me this, if I am past all hope?”5 But when the events that follow prove to him that he is not beyond redeeming, he rejoices, turning his life around out of his hope for a better future.

How often could our mindsets, our hopelessness, be holding us back from experiencing the beauty of life, regardless of circumstances? From a personal standpoint, we at All May Prosper have found ourselves in this battle right now. Let’s just say our venture into starting a brokerage company has not gone as smoothly as we expected. Our eyes were quickly opened through experience to the vast amount of fraud in the industry, and finding carriers who are willing to work with a new broker has been challenging beyond belief. At times it is certainly easy to look at the situation we find ourselves in and become frustrated, anxious, and hopeless.

But in these moments we must remember that our circumstances do not have to control our attitude. We can experience joy in the midst of the unknown and hold onto hope even when the reality around us doesn’t seem to leave much to grasp hold of. Because regardless of the situation you find yourself in, living a life without hope, living a life focused on self and the conditions around you, is never the better option. Letting hardships define one’s mindset is how one turns into Scrooge, but remaining hopeful through all circumstances unlocks the possibility of an inspired life. In fact, it may make life appear beautiful even where you are. This Christmas season, regardless of the economic outlook or personal hardships, let’s hold onto hope and keep the door open to a renewed life.

And let us never forget the true Hope of the world, whose birth we celebrate at this time each year. In the midst of our hopelessness, Hope itself came to us in the innocent form of a child. And through His life, death, and resurrection, we were gifted something we could never have earned ourselves, the payment for our sins and the opportunity to experience life with our Creator for eternity. What a gift of hope we have received!

References

    1. Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol. London: Cecil Palmer, 1922 (reprint of 1843 edition). Internet Archive, page 65. https://archive.org/details/inchristmascarol00dickrich/mode/2up.
    2. mballardc32. “A Christmas Carol – All Version.” 2021. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/list/ls577200923/.
    3. Tank Transport. “Great Freight Recession 2025 – Grim Unprecedented Downturn Continues (3-Year Slump In Trucking).” August 6, 2025. TankTransport.com. https://tanktransport.com/2025/08/great-freight-recession-2025/; American Transportation Research Institute. “For the Third Year in a Row, the Economy is the Trucking Industry’s Top Concern.” October 26, 2025. TruckingResearch.org. https://truckingresearch.org/2025/10/for-the-third-year-in-a-row-the-economy-is-the-trucking-industrys-top-concern/.
    4. Tank Transport. “Great Freight Recession 2025 – Grim Unprecedented Downturn Continues (3-Year Slump In Trucking).” August 6, 2025. TankTransport.com. https://tanktransport.com/2025/08/great-freight-recession-2025/.
    5. Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol. London: Cecil Palmer, 1922 (reprint of 1843 edition). Internet Archive, page 150. https://archive.org/details/inchristmascarol00dickrich/mode/2up.

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