Hope
“When Believers Pray with Faith,
Hope is born.”
Why do we often call some people 'hopeless?' It is because without hope life becomes useless. Hope is what gives meaning and purpose to life. What is HOPE? It is …
H – Having
O – Only
P – Positive
E – Expectations
The ones who move forward on their journey towards God do not let negative emotions enter their life. Such people realize that belief in God is all about being positive. Their faith fills their life with positive emotions like courage, confidence, optimism, love, forgiveness, compassion, and trust. All these positive emotions fill their life with the power of enthusiasm. They eliminate all negative emotions that create poison in their life. Those who live with hope destroy fear, worry, stress, anxiety, anger, hate, revenge and pessimism. They have climbed the fourth rung on the Ladder to Heaven and they are staunch believers in God's powers. Not only do they believe in God and pray, but their unshakeable, invincible faith leads them to a state of optimism that makes them seem completely confident about their God.
Their hope creates magic in their life. They dream big and think, “With God all things are possible.” In fact, most people whose life is full of hope, eliminate 'impossible' from their vocabulary. Even when things seem impossible, their belief in God is such that they believe a miracle from God will make it possible. Hope has tremendous power. People with hope are able to cope and overcome all problems and challenges. When they reach the end of the rope, they don't lose hope. They just hang on and it is their faith that takes them through the biggest challenges that they face.
Compare these people with people who have no hope. They become truly hopeless people. What are such people capable of doing? Such people reach nowhere. When they reach the end of the road, they just stop. But people with hope move forward. They know that with faith and hope, the end of the road will become a bend in the road and where there seems to be no way forward, a new way will appear. People with hope are able to overcome all the challenges of their life.
Sheela believed in God. She used to pray every day. But her prayers were weak and without conviction. In fact, she used to tell God – “I really don't know whether you will answer my prayers or not!” On one hand, she believed that God existed. But on the other, she did not understand the power of the Divine. Her faith was weak, and she had both positive and negative emotions that filled her life alternatively. She never got what she wanted in life and she concluded that God didn’t love her. Her friend Radha was quite different. Although her life had problems, she thanked God and accepted his Divine will. She believed unconditionally in the power of the Divine and her communication to God was very affirmative. “Oh Lord, I trust you,” she would pray. “You are everything, I am nothing! My problems may seem like mountains to me, but if thou wishes, you can wipe out my problems. I pray and I beg thee to take away these tragedies from my life. Fill my life with peace and happiness. I believe without a doubt that you will make it happen. Thank you, Lord!” Radha was more miserable than Sheela, but her belief, her faith, and her hope made her cope with her problems. Her relationship with the Divine was strong and her prayers worked. Sheela continued to struggle because she did not trust in the Divine. Her negative reactions only caused her to slip down the Ladder rather than climb up.
The choice is ours. We can choose to live like Sheela or Radha. We can live with hope or live hopelessly. If we believe in God, have faith and live with hope, then we will trust the Divine and move up on the Ladder to Heaven.
Hope gives us what is known as 'the never give up attitude.' Have you ever seen a stonecutter hammering a rock with his tools? With all his might, he gives it a blow. Nothing happens! Then he gives it another blow but the rock remains still. Ten blows, twenty blows, fifty blows, and the rock refuses to give in. Finally, after many more blows, the rock breaks into two and the stone cutter knows that it was not that last blow that did it, but all that went before. He knows it was not just his effort, but his faith and his hope that split the rock apart. We human beings sometimes give up. Our belief breaks apart when our faith and our hope is not strong enough. We don't move forward in our relationship with God. We are unable to trust the Divine and we do not climb the Ladder to Heaven. Even though we may have climbed a few steps, we just stop. We live and we die without going up in the sky! If only we trusted the Divine, we would continue climbing the Ladder to Heaven.
”
Hope is not pretending that there is never any sorrow,
It’s the knowledge that our troubles will be overcome tomorrow.
It’s an inner strength that we call on to sustain us now and then,
Till our problems lie behind us and we are happy once again.
Hope
TAKEAWAYS