Believe, hope and don’t give up!

Recently we had an event themed, The Gift of Hope. Dictionary.com states the verb, ‘hope,’ means: to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence.  Hope is something we all want to have at all times.

We get up in the morning, expectant of how our day may progress.  There are plans we make, and for the most part, we don’t expect anything to interrupt it.  We leave our homes with the expectation that we will return without incident.

Then there are the days that some uneventful event happens and we are thrown off course because of an interruption in our schedule.  The diagnosis, the pressure at work, the phone call that turns our world upside down and we wonder.  We wonder if there is going to be a change.  We wonder how long the pressure will remain.

Our response to question with any variance of doubt is, “I hope so.” You may be reading this and hope seems like a key you misplaced in the house.  It’s been tucked away somewhere for so long that you really aren’t sure if you’ll ever find it again.  And yet we don’t have to look very far.  Many of us have been through so many ups and downs this year – we are struggling to simply hang on.  We are hanging on not by a cord, but it feels like a literal string!  Unless there is a major breakthrough, we really don’t know if we’re going to make it.

To you, my friend, I say this – yes, life can turn around.  I believe it will.  How can I believe this?

At a time when they least expected

At a time when the world was so cruel

At a time when things seemed hopeless

That’s when Hope was born

Hope came to the world when life seemed hopeless

Hope broke forth for all the world to see

You’ve not been forgotten

Hope was born for you

Hope was born for me

Hope was, Hope is, Hope will forever be

When the baby came in a manger, He was an answer to the prayers of those who came before.  He was the Hope that many were looking for.  His birth told them that a new day, a new life, would be experienced.

We celebrate Hope in the midst of injustice, lost wages, struggling healthcare, abuse of all kinds.  And as my friend, Cheryl Nembhard stated this weekend, “The Hope that came, grew up and took on a burden that none of us could do.  His birth did many things, but it was his death that secured our future.”  Jesus is our Hope.

So believe, Hope and don’t give up!

Blessings!

Patricia Russell

As my friend, Cheryl Nembhard stated this weekend, “The Hope that came, grew up and took on a burden that none of us could do.  His birth did many things, but it was his death that secured our future.”