Despair & Hope

“Utter loss of hope.”  “…A cause of hopelessness.”  That’s what Webster says.  Sound familiar?  Have you ever been there?  I don’t think any human being on the planet escapes the feeling of despair at some point in their life.  It comes in many forms:  despair, desperation, despondency, discouragement and hopelessness, all refer to a state of mind caused by circumstances that seem too much to cope with.

Unplanned pregnancy can feel this way.  We may feel confused, embarrassed, and afraid to tell our parents or our boyfriend.  There are so many questions.  What am I going to do?  What about my job?  What about school?  What about my plans for the future?

I was speaking with a guy at work and two unplanned events came his way today setting his head spinning.  He and his wife had one child who was born with a heart defect.  They postponed having any other children for quite a while as they navigated the care and medical expenses for this little one.  They had just recently begun the conversations about going ahead and trying to have another child.  Then they got a phone call from someone close to them asking if they wanted to adopt their baby.  He was also solicited by his previous employer to come back to work for them for five dollars more per hour than his current position, but yet sometimes in winter they have no work for him.  His head was spinning around on his neck as he shared with me.

The interesting thing about life is it is unpredictable.  It is always going to throw surprises at us that we didn’t plan.  What if as he and his wife were discussing the idea of having another baby, God decided He needed them to care for this other little one that needed a home?  As the events of our lives unfold, God is always there walking beside us.  He has the wise view.  He has the answers if we just ask.  And you will find as life passes by that things work out.  They are never as huge or scary as our minds make them.  And our faithful God always provides what we need.

I read today that despair was a lack of faith.  “Why, my soul, are you downcast?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” Psalm 42:11.  Do you know God?  I can assure you life is so much easier and richer to have the God of the Universe walking beside you with whatever you face.  “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, declares the Lord.”  Jeremiah 29:13-14.  So, “be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” Psalm31:24.

As you ponder the unpredictable challenges you face you need to “know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  Romans 8:28.

K.H.

“The road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination.”
― Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Fall of Atlantis

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