Romans 12:12 (NIV)
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in
prayer.
Jean Kerr said, "Hope is the feeling you have, that
the feeling you have, isn't permanent." It is what we have when we know
that we WILL eventually survive the night and bask in sunshine once again. It
does not deny the present darkness, but it reminds us that dawn is coming.
Brigadier General Robinson Risner ("Robbie")
spent seven years as a POW at the "Hanoi Hilton," as prisoners of war
called their North Viet Nam compound. There he discovered the power of hope. He
spent four and a half years of that time in isolation. He endured ten months of
total darkness. Those ten months were the longest of his life. When they
boarded up his little seven-by-seven foot cell, shutting out the light, he
wondered if he was going to make it. He had already been under intense physical
and mental duress after years of confinement. And now, not a glimmer of light
shone into his cell -- or into his soul.
Robbie spent hours a day exercising and praying. But at
times he felt he could nothing but scream. Not wanting to give his captors the
satisfaction of knowing they'd broken him, he stuffed clothing into his mouth
to muffle the noise as he screamed at the top of his lungs.
One day Robbie got down on the floor and crawled under his
bunk. He located a vent that let in outside air. As he pressed against the
vent, he saw a faint glimmer of light reflected on the inside wall of the
opening. Robbie put his eye next to the cement wall and discovered a minute
crack in the construction. It allowed him to glimpse outside, but was so small
that all he could see was one blade of grass. A single blade of grass and a
faint ray of light. But when he stared at the sight, he felt a surge of joy,
excitement and gratitude like he hadn't known in years. "It represented
life, growth, and freedom," he later said, "and I knew God had not
forgotten me." It was a tiny glimmer hope that sustained Robbie through an
unbearable ordeal.
The human spirit is strong. It seems to run forever on
nothing but a morsel of hope. Without it, you have nothing. With it, nothing
else matters.
Dear Lord, we thank You that our hope is in You. Help us
see the things around us that You put in our life as an encouragement. Help
Your joy shine through us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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