Lighthouse – Cape of Good Hope
I was looking back on some of my earlier personal Facebook posts from 2013. That was the year I posted 365 things that make me smile. I remember that there were some days I just couldn’t post, but I would catch up the next day.
Looking for the positives in any given day made a huge difference. Even if it was a ridiculously hard day, I still was trying to find something that sparkled. When I couldn’t find anything to focus on for the day, I would look at the big picture and realize I was resting in the hands of God even when I felt like my heart was tearing into pieces.
That is the place where the beauty of my life rests. I am and have been fully in His hands through both the good and disastrous moments. Even when I couldn’t change the circumstances in my life or make the memories go away, I always knew He was with me. He is the source of love and hope.
Love and hope are emotions that hold a life together. When someone has lost hope, they also lose their lust for life. To not feel loved makes insecurity appear in every aspect of our being and affects the way we interact with others. To feel unloved makes us approach each person and each activity expecting no one to like them there as well. When you walk in expecting not to be liked then your entire countenance is dulled and it affects how others interact with you.
When someone has no hope, bad choices are made. To not believe you will excel or that your life will never amount to anything, choices are made that are in alliance with those thoughts from gangs to murder, depression to cutting. Without hope the idea of suicide also becomes very appealing. SUICIDE IS NEVER THE ANSWER!!!
“There is some good and this world, and it is worth fighting for.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers
However, life can change so drastically when you know that your life was not only created by a loving God Who thinks the world of you but that He also has wonderful plans for each of us (Jeremiah 29:11) and He sent His Son to die and conquer death for us (John 3:16). When you have these Truths as your main focus, feeling loved and having hope, even if only a small spark on certain days, will always be a part of you.
No matter what I have encountered in life, I have always known He loves me. This has always given me hope. On some days I only had the hope to make it through that day but, in the end, those days added together to give me hope for a future filled with promise. The best thing is that everyone can have this Hope and fully experience His love. All you have to do is ask Him.
