Sunday, January 24, 2016

Hope in Deep Despair

       May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the           Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13

     I thought I had no hope when my husband, Donnie, died of a heart attack at age forty. I felt like someone had taken their fist and rammed it into my chest. My heart was actually broken. I was left to take care of all the responsibility of the finances and our daughter, Donelle. I was teaching school at the time. Donnie died in November, and I went back to work in January. We had been staying with his sister, Betty, but I had to go back home and  return to work. My nerves were shot though. When I had commons duty, I would massage my hands, because my palms were aching.
     I was like the butterfly chrysalis. I was hanging down like a small sack looking like there was no life left in me and no sign of hope. But just like the butterfly, there was a metamorphosis going on inside of my heart. God transformed my life from the inside out.
    God gave  me a purpose and through it a hope for the future. He had sent me a daughter, Donelle, who reminded me of her dad. I needed to be there for her and show her that God still loved us. We went to church regularly and Donelle was active in the youth group.  I attended all her basketball games. The Holy Spirit was there to comfort and guide us into a new life. We have always been close and now we are more friends than mother and daughter.
     The greatest tragedy of my life occurred twenty four years ago.  At the time, I could not see God working, but He was there wrapping His loving arms around me.
     Even if hope, joy, and peace seem illusive  in our lives, the Holy Spirit has a way of using circumstances to grow us and alter our outlook completely. When we are in the dark pit, we cannot see it, but we are slowly being made more Christ-like  and come away a stronger Christian. We can have joy and peace even when we can see no light in our situation. May we all abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.