Shifting from Hopelessness to Hopefulness: 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 in any area creates disharmony in all parts.  Unless we are in denial, we rarely feel hopeful when we first hear that some part of us is not working as it was created to.  After we get the diagnosis of our symptoms or lab tests & are told of the limitations, treatments, & prognosis, initially our feelings generally 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 fully despite the circumstances that life presents us with, how do we shift from hopelessness to hopefulness?  Many who feel broken leave God out of the picture or get angry with God, & simply give up, hopelessly 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 is, why bother in the first place? And 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, one sees no longer, but one has seen. 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 still know.”  We who believe have seen & heard what our transcendent God 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.

Whispering Hope

Our hope is the fuel for our healing & our hope comes from knowing through; teaching, memory or experience what our transcendent God can do. There is a whisper of hope that comes to us as we remember something as simple & yet as profound as the miracle of the transformation of the monarch caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly.  “Just when the caterpillar wrapped in a chrysalis hanging from a  branch  thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.”

God invites each of us to claim the misty consciousness of something forgotten & step into whole health that will awaken our soul, give it Light, hope, & joy & set it free to live unbroken. The choice is ours.  All things are possible through God. We invite you to embrace the hope that is so graciously offered.

~Posted by Rev Kathryn Bindig, MDiv. MS; Spiritual Consultant with assistance from Rich Muscatello; Director of Business Development & Strategy