Pathway to Hope #1
Why We Need Hope
Dear Friend,
If you are reading this, no doubt we have a lot in common. By that, I mean that we are both part of a club that we did not seek nor sign up for—the club of cancer.
Our diagnosis and story are probably very different, but many similar thoughts and experiences come with this journey. And honestly, not all of them are bad. But when I talk with other people facing cancer, there is often a mutual understanding that wow, this road is tough.
For me, when I first heard my diagnosis, it was as if I was pushed into a prison cell, the steel door clanking shut behind me. There was no escape, and the life I loved seemed gone forever.
Can you relate?
Perhaps, like me, this journey has caused you to think a lot about hope—which I didn’t consider much about until mine was threatened.
Something critical I’ve learned about it: the absence of hope reveals just how vital it is.
In fact, probably the hardest parts of my journey have been those times when I have lost hope. It felt like all the joy and zest was drained from my life. I became dead, before I was actually dead.
When I was first diagnosed, several doctors told me that I wouldn’t live past a year. As a husband and new father, this was devastating. But when I found hope, it became something solid to stand on, even when all around me crumbled. Hope has given me the strength to live productively through the present, despite challenges and threats.
In the next Pathway, I’m going to share more about how I found real and lasting hope.
For now, I’ll share an article that will help open the door to some more hope in your life: Seven Powerful Reasons to Keep Hope Alive.
Yours for hope,
Chris Lawrence
Founder of Hope Has Arrived
A few steps you can take:
Ponder: How would you define hope? What gives you hope, especially as you face cancer?
Remember: the absence of hope reveals how vital hope is
Consider: these words of hope: “Delayed hope makes one sick at heart, but a fulfilled longing is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)
Don’t want to wait for the next email to keep reading? Access the next Pathway here.