Hope

Hope is a tricky commodity.  False hope can be comforting in the short term, but devastating if the outcome differs from what you desire.  "Hope deferred makes the heart sick" (Proverbs 13:12), so waiting for a longing to be fulfilled is risking deep discouragement. 
Still, hope is a godly, encouraging emotional position from which to view life.  What does a healthy, realistic hope look like?  It is interesting that Psalms admonishes us over and over again to "hope in the Lord" and "to hope in his word".  There is no chance of disappointment when our hope rests in him alone.  Often we hope for such specific outcomes that any variation in the answer or any delay is disheartening.  Satan will try to use variations and delays to attack our faith that God hears and cares.
I was once praying with a very heavy heart about a situation and trying to grasp some hope to settle my anxious heart.  As I was praying, I told God, "I don't even know what to hope for."  While his voice was not auditiory, I did "hear" him reply: "Why don't you leave that to me?"  The point was I didn't need to figure out a solution to give God some ideas about how to fix things.  Letting him know my sorrow and desire for a solution was enough.  He could take care of the rest.
Combining hope with trust in an all-powerful and compassionate Father is the best way to have peace and joy.  Abandoning a controlling position in which my desire is the only acceptable solution to ease my angst, is freeing in a wonderful way.  It opens new faith-vistas and makes me rely on a God who can "do more than all we ask or imagine."  (Ephesians 3:20)