Part 2: “SHIFTING FROM HOPELESSNESS TO HOPEFULNESS”

Whenever we are diagnosed with a disease or recognize that we are unbalanced or broken in some way in our body, mind or spirit, it is initially a significant challenge to feel hopeful. Brokenness or sickness in any area in our bodies or our minds or our Spirits, is a significant challenge to feeling hopeful. Brokenness in any area creates disharmony in all parts. Unless we are in denial, I think initially we rarely feel hopeful when we first hear that some part of us is not working as it was created too. After we receive the diagnosis of our symptoms or lab tests & are told of the limitations, treatments & prognosis, our feelings generally, initially shift to fear, anger, grief, despair & hopelessness.  The chances of whole healing occurring in whatever form that may take, are very minimal when we stay in a hopeless state & take on a sick identity.  

The question is, if we are seeking to live in wholeness & thus fully in spite of the circumstances life present us with, how do we shift from hopelessness to hopefulness? Many who feel broken in some way leave God our creator, out of the picture or get angry with God & simply give up, asking themselves why they should bother to try in the first place. However, the fact is; though you have been on the summit you cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So, the question becomes: why bother in the first place, which of course is the; hopeless give up question. The answer is: what is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees, one descends so one sees no longer, but one has seen. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know. There is an art of  conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least know.     

We who believe, have seen & heard what our transcendent Holy God has done & can do. By God’s Grace, “We can believe in the sun even when it is not shining, we can believe in love even when we don’t feel it. And we can believe in God even when He is silent.” Our faith is the bedrock of our hope & our hope is the fuel for our healing.

God invites each of us to claim our original identity of wholeness & in spite of our brokenness, to claim the misty consciousness of something forgotten & to step into the spirit of whole health. God’s grace will re-awaken your soul, giving  your mind, body & spirit: Light, Hope & Healing, setting each one free to live into your purpose in the pathway He leads you. “All things are possible through God.”  Give thanks to the Lord, for the whole health that awaits you. 

AMEN

~Posted by Rev Kathryn Bindig, MDiv. MS; Pastoral Care Minister with assistance from Rich Muscatello; Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer