Hope

I saw an ad that goes like this 'No tsunamis. Just everyday hopelessness.'

I think it was a statement that really gave food for thought. Of course the ad was inviting donations to help the victims of the tsunami. But just think - how many people are living in hopelessness everyday? How many people because of one catastrophe (be it natural, physical, emotional, unexplainable or self-imposed) - let their lives slip into an abyss of hopelessness and never recover from it?

Hopelessness. A child lost both her parents. Hopelessness. A person diagnosed with terminal illness. Hopelessness. A heartbreak. Hopelessness. Losing your job. Hopelessness. We all define it into our own little situations. We think some are perhaps more hopeless than others depending on the degree of pain we ourselves perceive is unbearable.

But ultimately - do you know what true hopelessness is? It's not accepting Hope who died on an old rugged cross 2,000 years ago. Hopelessness - is simply you living in a state without hope. Hope can be that little flicker of light within you that says, "Even though everything around me says death, it shall not be so! I will live and live more abundantly, more exceedingly than ever before." Why? Because He who was filled with hope, with everything good... took every single one of our hopeless situations and emotions when He hung on that cross. He said, "I will take being forsaken. I will take being striken with that illness. I will take that guilt. I will take that sin. I will take that loss. I will take that meaningless life. I will take that crushed heart. I will take that failure. I will take rejection. I will take being nothing - because I know you cannot and I love you too much to have you destroy yourself with no hope. So I give you Myself. I give you a hope and a victory in all things to come."

Do you have Hope? If you have not, He is just a prayer away. If you have - never declare any situation in your life as 'hopeless' for in every situation, He is there; your Hope is in it turning it around for you right at this very second. To give a no turnarounds to turnarounds. To give a dead-end to a breakthrough. Rest in your Hope.

On a side-note, if given a choice to be swiftly destroyed or to live in everyday agony, hopelessness, which would you choose? Most would probably choose the former. There is a Chinese saying that it is better to suffer pain for a moment than to go through with it in the long-term. Frankly, it is common for anyone going through a difficult, challenging time to just want to get it over with supersonic speed. However, sometimes the long painful journeys are the ones who helps you grow and strengthen you most. The good thing is with Christ, you always emerge out of it more than conquerors and with only gains and no losses. He restores everything back to you 7 times more!

An Interview with Swiftly Destroyed:

Q: Which would you choose if given a chance again - to be swiftly destroyed or to live in everyday hopelessness?

SW: The latter of course.

Q: That's interesting. Most of your counterparts who are living would probably choose the former. Why?

SW: You said it yourself... they are living. They're still alive. As long as they live, they will have another chance to receive hope. Us... we're just being cheated of that privilege... They don't know how blessed they really are. Living is hope.