Hope is the beginning of Faith when that which we hope for comes to fruition
Why do I have a voice in my head that kicks my ass? This is why I don’t need a “call you on you shit sponsor”! I kick my own ass and far too often especially lately…ouch! I tried to do some new website work in areas that I am learning. I crashed my site and oh how that freaks me out! RFH is back up she was only down for an hour or so. However whenever that happens I get the feeling that it’s the end of the world and I make it all my fault. Granted it usually is due to an action I take but the actions are to better the site in the long run. Running a website is much more difficult than one might think…oh the things I have learned,,, so much! But in the scheme of it all I still know so little. Every time I crash my site I learn much more about how to make Recovery Farmhouse a better website.
And so enough about my challenges. I want to talk about “hope” and how vitally important it is to our life’s outlook and our perspective on the future. Hope will cure depression, hope will keep us sane, hope helps our attitude it says to us; “everything is going to be ok Lori, your Higher Power has you in his loving hands. You are the apple of his eye and not only that you are doing the will of your father.” Hope tells us the things we need to hear. Hope isn’t just a mental thought it comes from deep within our heart and spreads to our mind and all through our bodies. Hope can keep a man alive in dismal conditions. Hope can bring health to our bones. Hope is listed in the Bible among the “greatest spiritual gifts” it’s more than a positive attitude it is absolute magic.
Hope is the beginning of faith it is the first deposit of the spiritual gift called faith. Faith when it is full blown CAN move mountains. I was thinking about the scripture that I learned as a little girl
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
Ever lasting life! This is a hope scripture IF we get it deep down within our heart. We humans are facing death…every day we face death. We have no idea when we are born how to grow up emotionally healthy and our parents don’t know how to nurture our vulnerable emotions. Ofentimes parents try and Love us but still we suffer emotional and spiritual neglect.
We must take time to do Step Eleven and strengthen our faith by meditation. We must allow hope to grow in us and turn into strong and courageous faith. I have lots of articles on how to balance ones emotions and recover from emotional disorder so I won’t go into it in this article as well. This article is focused on higher things. There is only one gift that is greater than hope and faith and that of coarse is Love.
Better translated into “charity” a giving love a mature and caring love that would fight to make someone else safe and warm. The Bible says it better than I:
◄ 1 Corinthians 13 ►
New International Version
1If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,b but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
The word of God will feed your soul. And if your heart deeply agrees with what you read you will move mountains! You are the vessel of God. You are a clay pot that holds a wonderful gift of diamond inside your earthly vessel. Do not underestimate your worth. Your loving actions will echo in eternity. Follow your heart and do God’s will. Do not side with the accuser. We have no right to judge ever ourselves…we should treat ourselves with kindness and Love just like we would a little child so innocent and pure. That I believe is how God sees us.
Amen