Life hasn’t exactly been easy for me, but this email isn’t a sob story to air my woes. No, this email is about a hope I’ve found in the midst of a life of hopelessness.
From a very young age I’ve been accustomed to and understood that life isn’t within our control; there are very few guarantees in this blip we call “life”.
You see, growing up this way, however, taught me the one guarantee: death is promised. In a life full of questions—why is there pain? Why is there loss? Why does happiness—true happiness—seem so unattainable?—I found myself often thinking of the life after death—if there even was one. In my juvenile mind—so accustomed to loss and hurt—I had no clue where I would go when the promise of death reached fulfillment.
Death is guaranteed. You may be reading and asking, “Dani, where is the hope in that?” Well, reader, let me share with you where I found my hope.
By the time I was in high school, I dealt with a myriad of things all stemming from a desperate need for control and a terrifyingly misguided view of who I was. That was until I understood who I was in light of this promise of death. This hope is often referred to as the “Living Hope”; a Hope that brings light amidst the darkness and chaos of life.
Another name for this hope is Jesus Christ. Now, reader, I promise I won’t preach at you. I won’t shove this down your throat. I merely wish to tell you my story,
I grew up thinking I wasn’t worth anything—thinking this world was better off without me. I grew up wanting to be rid of the pain and the loss that I had encountered in my short time on this earth. Until I understood and acknowledged a truth: I (and you) am so divinely created in the Image of the Almighty Creator that He—despite my sinful nature—chose to spare me from the just penalty of my depravity: hell. It wasn’t until I understood the free gift of grace extended to me that I finally began understanding—and seeing—the hope amidst hopelessness; it wasn’t until I understood the necessity of surrendering myself to Christ that I began to find freedom amidst chains; that I began to experience joy that surpassed all understanding.
It wasn’t until I understood the reality that choosing my own way in life would result in eternal separation from everything that is Good once the guarantee of life is fulfilled.
Reader, I have found hope—a Hope that never fails, that sustains, and that saves.
You can too.
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A little about myself:
I’m 20, I have two cats, and I want to make a shout-out to my homegirl Abby, who introduced me to this wonderful community called The Listserve. I wouldn’t be anywhere in life without the other half of the gingersquad.
Live long and prosper, Listservians.
Dani
[email protected]
USA