Having HOPE

Right now there seems like there is one theme that keeps repeating itself in my life. As if there is one word that God keeps telling me over and over again.

HOPE.

I had the opportunity to talk with a new friend of mine a few weeks ago about some of the things going on in her life. Yes, usually new friends don't talk about personal things early on in their friendship but she thought that maybe I could relate. She was dealing with some issues from her parents divorcing and was just trying to work some things out. One conclusion that we both came to is that what happened in the past does not have to keep affecting your future. The baggage from back then doesn't have to keep you from becomng who you want to be. There is HOPE.

I read an article the other day about the ex-gutarist for the rock band Korn. To make a long story short it was about how he found God, quit the band, and kicked his drug habit. I don't know what it's like to kick a drug habit, but I imagine it's hard. And I know that telling your friends that you no longer want to be apart of their group is hard too. But that's what he did. If you were to look at this guy 10 years ago, God would be the furthest thing from you mind. But God can break through the toughest barriers. Because of that, there is HOPE.

I have read the story of a pornstar who left that industry to pursue a life with God. She has past filled with abuse, shame, and a feeling of being unloved. But that's her past. Yes, her past is real but HOPE is real also.

I have my own issues I have dealt/am dealing with. I'm a work in progress. I am preparing a group presentation for class in which I am portraying a man going to see a therapist about his problems. A friend recently told me I would be good at playing the crazy person. I think she was joking. Well, it was kind of deep because some of the issues that are being dealt with in the presentation are things I have dealt with in my own life. It's been a great opportunity for me just to look back and see how far God has brought me. It's been an opportunity to for me to remember that there is HOPE.

Sure we live in a messed up world. A world where we see such things as poverty and excess, political corruption, religious persecution, human trafficking, terrorism, genocide, disease, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the crisis in Darfur, Republicans attacking Democrats and Democrats attacking Repulicans, abortion, divorce, child molestation and abuse, and the list goes on. It's easy to forget about hope.

And we all have our our things to deal with too; we are all a little messed up in our own ways. We all have those wounds that have been dealt to us, those addictions that we just can't seem to break, those fears of rejection or failure or the past or the future or abandonment in which we live out of. We all have those relationships that have left their mark, those areas in which we seek forgiveness, those things that bring us shame, and those days where nothing seems to go our way. We all need HOPE.

There is HOPE. Hope for something better, hope for tomorrow, hope for things to be made right. We know that things aren't like they are suppossed to be, so we have hope that one day they will be made right. We know that we aren't like we are suppossed to be, so we hope we can become someone more. One thing I know of, one thing that I can say without a single doubt, is that there is HOPE in Him. He is sure, steady, and always true. God is Hope.

"God, the one and only— I'll wait as long as he says. Everything I hope for comes from him, so why not? He's solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I'm set for life." Psalm 62:5