Set Me Free: Devotions From Time of Grace MinistryPrimjer

SET ME FREE FROM SELF-HATRED: HOPELESSNESS

Children are by nature optimistic and resilient. When they're small, they haven't yet seen the full range of human cruelty. They believe in fairies, ghosts, and handsome princes on white horses. They know that every story will end with everyone living happily ever after.

But years of disappointment and frustration can beat the hope out of a person's heart. After a while, you not only expect loss and failure, but some people even sabotage their own efforts as a self-fulfilling prophecy--"See, I knew I would fail." We all need hope. It is the oxygen of the human spirit. But like oxygen it is consumable, and we must learn how to find it and breathe it.

The Bible and the sacraments bring the life-giving O2 of the Holy Spirit (whose very name in both Hebrew and Greek means "wind" or "breath." "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).

Reconnected to the message of God's deeds for us and God's love for us, even a hopeless heart can start beating again. Those stories are all true! Yes he did. Yes I can.