Find Your Lost HOPE in the Sacred Space

By Diana Williams

Imagine a happy person skipping through a beautiful forest on a great adventure. This person has no fear, looks forward to all of the twist and turns along the pathway, and is equipped with a backpack full of provisions for the trip.

Somewhere along the way, she loses the precious backpack and is distraught. Besides a collapsible tent, extra clothing and food, there were powerful virtues like love, joy and peace inside. Furthermore, this once happy traveler realizes that hope was lost as well.
This metaphor depicts what has happened to so many people. Somehow, the challenges and curves in life have caused folks to lose hope. Without hope what was once beautiful and full of promise becomes burdensome and a huge chore.

Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in life. When one has hope, he or she supposes that something desired may happen. The person is not hopeless; rather he or she is hopeful, expecting good things and looking forward to the future.

Typically, life gives each person hope. However, when disappointment, discontentment or even tragedy happens, one may be in the depleted position of trying to get it back. If this is your circumstance, go to your Sacred Space to recapture your hope and create a new normal for your life.

The Sacred Space prohibits the escalation of negative emotions like anger, confusion, fear and hatred. There, the therapy of calm and stillness acts to exchange the bad for the good. It replaces anger with forgiveness, confusion with guidance, fear with courage and hatred with love. Negative emotions may drive you to seek refuge in your Sacred Space but the solace there fortifies you when you leave it.

Use prayer and meditation as a means to regain hope. Remember that pitfalls are only temporary if you get up and continue to move forward. Don't become distracted by where you've been and what happened in the past.

Instead, take a page from newly elected president Barack Obama's book and embrace the Audacity of Hope as an agent of change for your life. His inspiring story is of a youngster born of mixed heritage in an era when interracial marriages were outlawed in some states. His parents divorced when he was two years old and his father returned to Africa seeing his son only once more before his death.

The daily details of spending most of his earlier years with his maternal grandparents could have caused an identity crisis, instead Barack Obama chose to apply himself academically, earn a law degree and work to improve his life as well as the lives of others. It was not easy and required effort on Barack Obama's part.

For others to overcome adversity today, it will also require action. Action taken in your Sacred Space starts the process of resuming agency for your destiny. You can look to the Bible story of Abraham where scripture is quoted, "Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping-believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, "That's how many descendants you will have!" Romans 4:18, NLT

In other words, just believing the promises given by God was reason enough to hope in something not yet seen. If you already have it, there is no need to hope for it. But if we hope for what we do not yet have, the Bible encourages us to wait for it patiently.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11, NIV

Now go back to the metaphor of the happy traveler in the first paragraph. Wouldn't you advise her to think back to the places visited to find where hope was lost? If she reflects on all of the wonderful things experienced along the way, she may recall lying her precious backpack down in front of a magnificent waterfall. It was an awesome experience and instead of unhappiness, she is grateful that everything during the journey wasn't bad.

With a thankful heart, she can retrieve her lost hope as well as all of the love, joy and peace that rightfully belong to her. Like the happy traveler, when you retreat to your Sacred Space, you have refused to allow hopelessness to thrive in your renewed spirit. You can reclaim the hope to change your life and create a glorious future!

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