What is your cause for hope? Late one night, after finishing the book Looking For Alaska by John Green, that one question continued to ring in my ears. What is my cause for hope? Over the past few years as I have struggled with internal battles, one question I always remains: Why continue? Last year, I hit my low point. After numerous external conflicts, I had suddenly imploded. Instead of turning to Christ, I tried to handle all my struggles by myself. Within a month, I became suicidal, bulimic, and felt completely alone. I did not allow anyone in. I did not want help. Eventually, I faced the harsh reality: It was time to change. I reached out to my family and friends, revealed my long-kept secrets, and have been healing since. I will technically always be suicidal, and always be bulimic, but I now have a reason not to be. I have a cause for hope.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” In Ephesians 2:8, one of the many reasons for hope is displayed. Growing up, I always feared that I would never be “good enough” to go to heaven. It is human nature to believe the works of man have an impact. In the grand scheme, however, this is evidently not the case. Man is sinful by nature; man is saved by faith. As previously stated, this is not of my own doing, but a gift from God. When I struggled with the “whys” in life, I often wondered why God chose to save me. I did nothing to deserve his grace, yet, he gave it to me. I felt unworthy of His mercy, like it was a burden. The gift was too grand of a gesture that I simply could not receive. After praying, I came to a different conclusion. How can I dare not accept such a wonderful gift as the grace of God? This epiphany gave m...
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... in Christ. It took a time of absolute despair and hopelessness to find my cause for hope. I find that all life’s struggles and despair create a cause for hope, and call for the Supreme remedy: Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.In Looking for Alaska, the main character continuously struggled with his cause for hope. After losing a good friend, he searched for the “why” in life, the cause of it all, and the reason to hope. Sadly, he lacked one key element: faith. The question that was never answered for him was what rang in my ears that one late night. “What is your cause for hope?” Through my faith in Christ, I hope to find a different outcome for myself. My cause for hope comes from God. It comes from his wonderful, never-ending, and never-failing grace. It comes from His mercy. It comes through the sacrifice of His son. My cause for hope is and always will be God.
For twelve years I’ve tried to hide my pain and fear from you. I’ve been trying to ignore the horror stories, unknowingly blinding myself from the stories of hope. I’m not as bitter as this story may lead you to think. In fact, I am an adamant believer in the statement (overheard three years ago in the Coffee House): “God has never taken anything away from me that he hasn’t replaced with something better.”
Imagine a camp where having the chance to see the ones that were significant in life was banned. Imagine a world where on a daily basis ,people got tortured in disturbing, immoral ways right in front of many viewing eyes from young to old. Image a camp where loved one’s life’s got stolen from them for all the wrong reasons. Strength and health was no longer an obstacle that had to be dealt with. The only thing left to do was to stride for something that could keep you going for the long run. What would happen then? Something new begins to grow. Something so powerful that it could possibly outshine strength and health. Hope. Hope is something that could get you farther than strength and health.
There have been dozens of marginal characters who have ventured off into the world to find their purpose in life. John Mallon Waterman and Carl McCunn are just a few of the many who have taken part in this quest. Waterman was a mentally unstable hiker who died trying to hike the mountains of Denali. McCunn was another soulful explorer who photographed wildlife, but committed suicide after finding himself trapped in the depths of Brooks Range. But one man, Chris McCandless, lies in the center of these two adventurists. McCandless was neither mentally unstable, nor did he assume that someone would magically appear to save him. McCandless set off into the Alaskan depths to test himself, to find himself, and to free himself from society’s values.
Chris McCandless’s decision to uproot his life and hitchhike to Alaska has encouraged other young adults to chase their dreams. Neal Karlinksy illustrates the love Chris had for nature in the passage, “He was intoxicated by the nature and the idea of a great Alasican adventure-to survive in the bush totally alone.” This passage shows appreciation for the significance of following ones dreams. Even with all that Chris had accomplished he knew that something was missing and this resonated deeply in his soul. It is refreshing to discover that not all young people are focused on materialistic success. Neal Karlinsky demonstrates this in the quotation, “Today, young idealistic pilgrims post their adventures on YouTube as they follow in the footsteps of Alexander Supertramp and visit the now famous “ magic bus” deep in the Alaskan interior.” This passage describes how some young people use Chris’ journey as a catalyst to discover their own identity and purpose as they travel to Alaska also.
...e. Grace allows this change to happen, but one must be willing to face hardships and difficulties because the road to redemption is narrow and rocky.
What is the director ultimately saying about the ways in which hope affects the individual?
Whenever I learned to trust and turn to God, I found His comfort to satisfy my soul. Almost two years ago, one of my best friends became extremely ill and had to leave home and go to a treatment clinic. (For her privacy, I will not say the illness). She had to immediately leave for she was due to die in two weeks if she did not find help. Whenever she told me the news, my whole world flipped upside down. My life had been pretty okay before this, just a few ups and downs. This was the first major trial in my life and I was not prepared. Of course, I prayed for her but I did not grasp the fact that God was going to save her. I was extremely emotionally unstable and I tried to fix myself on my own. This never worked, I may have had temporarily relief but the fear came back. One day I finally gave up trying to fix myself and turned to God. I asked Him to forgive me for not turning to Him first and I allowed him to fix me. I placed my trust in him and ran to him for comfort. Even when it was difficult, I knew I had to trust in Him. Once I placed my faith in Him, my comfort came. I had faith that He would heal her and she will not
“Our horse chestnut [tree] is in full bloom, thickly covered with leaves and much more beautiful than last year.”
The author goes on to say that God has “made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4-5). The author states that God’s mercy is a gift “not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). The audience was previously “far off” but has since been “brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13). The author talks about the “Law of commandments contained in ordinances” (Ephesians 2:15). He speaks of the audience now being a part of “God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets” (Ephesians 2:19-20). In summary of Ephesians Chapter 2, the author speaks of the knowledge of what is right, God’s gift of mercy, the Law, and God’s foundation to build knowledge of Him and His Son through apostles and
...ng the underlying theme that drives the story and the movie, propels the reader and viewer to rekindle the desire to hope above all else because hope is all one has in devastating as well as dire needs. Hope overcomes despair, permits others to see your “inner light” to develop integrity which connects with honesty and trust. Hope is the inspiration to continue to live regardless of the circumstances. Red may have narrated; “Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.” But, Andy Dufresne states it best: “Get busy living, or get busy dying.”
Throughout my years of high school, I have battled a chronic knee injury which was devastating for me. I have had surgery not once, not twice, but three times in efforts to correct the problem I was having. Throughout these past few years I often found myself asking, “Why me?” or “Why did this have to happen to me?”. Overtime, I started to ask myself a better question which was, “Why not me?”. I feel everything happens for a reason and I was dealt this difficult obstacle because God knew I could handle it. This injury has made me mentally tougher than I could have ever imagined. Along with my mental toughness, I have had to face some tough decisions at a
The Mother-Daughter Relationship in Toni Morrison's Beloved. In Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved, the author creates a mother-daughter relationship in which the mother Sethe, out of love, murders her daughter Beloved to free and protect her from the harshness of slavery. Because of this, the baby ghost of her deceased daughter haunts her conscience and is later resurrected to further torment Sethe about her act of love. From the time she slits the throat of her infant daughter and until the end of the novel, we are associated with the justifications of Sethe's actions and become understanding of Morrison's use of this conflict to recreate history while relaying the harshness of slavery in this time period.
Something that I have learned after overcoming this battle is that life is very unpredictable and it is up to the individual to rise above and choose the right path. This excerpt from the poem “Recovery” by Maya Angelou has given me encouragement and inspiration to move on with my life and become the best person that I can be: “A last love, proper in conclusion, should snip the wings forbidding further flight. But I now reft of that confusion, am lifted up and speeding towards the light.” I live by these words everyday because they motivate me to succeed and overcome the impossible.
Findings consistently related higher hope to better outcomes in physical health, psychological adjustment, psychotherapy, athletics and academics. Individual combinations of pathways demonstrate different degrees of robustness between high and low-hope persons. Individuals with high degrees of hope are adept at exploring plausible alternate routes, whereas, low-hope individuals are less flexible and unlikely to produce alternate routes. The positive psychology model demonstrates benefits, from tracing the source of positive emotion, as theory applied in therapy suggests emotions are the key to locating underlying sources of feelings. Snyder suggested positive emotions usually flow from perceptions of successful goal pursuit and overcoming problems, finding consistent support for positive emotions occurring in both unimpeded and impeded circumstances. Future research is encouraged in regard to human strengths engendering hope and how people rebound from problem exposure. Snyder viewed Hope as critical for enhancing quality of life and predicting positive outcomes. If the premise of hope were applied, it would allow more people to experience the full range of goal pursuits in
Paul tells us to “fight the good fight of faith” (Tim. 6:12). We must not hold on to unbelief. When we give ourselve...