Reminders: What Keeps You Going?
by Ardith Hoff
In a previous article in this series, the topic of hope was put into the context of the ultimate hope of life after death. In this treatment of the topic the focus is on hope as a means of dealing with the problems of everyday life, i.e., hope vs. hopelessness.
A person, let’s call her “Jane,” has endured such an array of difficulties, that if there were a book detailing her life, no one would believe it. I have been helping this woman for over 30 years and can tell you that her story of constant horror is absolutely true. Some of her problems, by her own admission, are the result of bad decisions on her part, but her resilience is the result of some fundamental decisions she made early in life that somehow see her through each unbelievably horrendous situation.
Jane is the oldest daughter in the large family of alcoholic parents. She rejected their way of life, and more or less raised her younger siblings. As a high school student, she was introduced to a young man whom her mother encouraged her to date, and when she became pregnant insisted that she marry. Constantly beaten, berated, and threatened with being murdered, she lost all confidence. Nine children later (the last four by spousal rape) she finally was able to divorce him while he was in jail.
She started a new life raising the children with remarkable grit and gumption, and that was just the beginning. One horrific thing after another, right up to the present day, has continued to plague her.
She is a deeply religious person, and says she doesn’t understand why God keeps allowing such terrible things to keep happening to her. Yet she never gives up! What keeps her going is her fervent hope that some greater good can come from all that she has endured, not for her in this life, but for her children and grandchildren.
Love keeps her going, both her steadfast belief in God’s love, and the love she has for her children, even though some of them have grieved her greatly. “We love, because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 “Let Love be without hypocrisy; Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.” Romans 12:9