Picked up a random poetry book From the crowded shelf. Quick easy hour read: Delight and wonder. Then, Found…
How to Find Your Hope For all Times
Bills are due: medical, house payments/rent, credit card payments, etc. Now it is the holidays and you want your kids to have the best Christmas and shower them with their desired items.
You are working, but barely making enough to pay the never ending bills. How do you find the money to afford gifts?
Dr. Karyn Hall, from Psychologytoday.com, explains, “If you experience devastating defeats, a persistent situation that you couldn’t change, or experienced a terrifying situation that you could not control your exposure to, then you may have lost hope for your ability to change your life or to change painful situations. Sometimes an ongoing mood disorder can lead to feelings of hopelessness.
What is the way out of this such a bleak situation?
Dr. Hall continues, “If you have no hope, no belief in therapy or that any action you take will make any difference, then that may well be the outcome. Change is very difficult, has multiple ups and downs, and requires motivation and commitment.”
She offers suggestions that are practical and attainable:
- “Find a clear path.”
- “Look for role models who have found solutions.”
- “Do what you know you can do.”
- “Perform an act of kindness.”
- “Turn to your faith. “
- “Practice mindfulness while doing acts of kindness and in your everyday life,” (Hall).
For me, I know I have my faith, my hope in God who stays in my heart. I know I have my family around me. I know I am blessed with a safe home and food to eat. I know there are people in more desperate situations. I do not need to fear or be sad for myself. Yet, I cannot seem to avoid this desperate sadness seeping into my heart at times. I know that I have been given this gift of time to write. I just wish that I could be doing more to give more to my family. I am working hard each day, but it just doesn’t feel like enough.
What I cannot help but fear: I fear that my inability to provide a real income to help my husband is building an invisible wall between us. I fear that my choice to be a writer has caused more trauma on my children because we in our finances. We cannot do what we used to do, like go out for dinner, or go to the movies.
Then my heart reminds me, as it says in Romans 5:3-5, “We can rejoice,too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love,” (New Living Translation).
Truth: I give my problems to God. I pray and feel His comfort. I write to share my experience with others in the hopes that others can also find solace in the lessons I learn.
Christmas will come and go. My family will always be with me. I am grateful that we can endure these hardships together to enable us to grow in spirit and in character.
Here are some resources I found on Amazon to for further study in finding your hope:
- Resting in God by Evelyn Makanda
- Good Days Start With Gratitude: A 52 Week Guide To Cultivate An Attitude Of Gratitude: Gratitude Journal by Pretty Simple Press
- Earth’s Natural Wonders: Season 2: Life at the ExtremesDVD by PBS Distribution, 2018 Directed by Russell Levin- I watched this documentary as I wrote this post. The disparity between my problems and the unending perseverance from the real people in this video startled me. I have nothing to fear. My family does not need to dig for mussels in the dangerous changing tides of the Arctic Tundra nor the family who leads Yaks through a dangerous mountain pass each year. As PBS.org reveals for this film, “We’ll learn how survival techniques are now being forced to evolve quickly in the face of change. And we’ll find out how human resilience, ingenuity and bravery overcome the most extraordinary odds in the great struggle for life.”
I pray blessings on you as read this today and may you walk forward with God’s grace in your heart!
Remember, I am an Amazon Affiliate. Consider purchasing one of the above links to support me at no extra cost to you.
References:
Hall, Karyn, PH.D. (19 April 2015). “Finding Hope”. Psychology Today. Retrieved from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pieces-mind/201504/finding-hope.