Faith for Hope

Hello there and thank you for stopping by my new page, Faith for Hope. For some of you, thank you for taking the chance and reading if you decide to push forward and do so:) All too often there is a profound negativism associated with faith…religion…however you would like to say it. And rightly so if you are looking at the topic from a historical perspective. We remember the Crusades, Jihad, the beheadings, the bombings, the bigotry, the torture at the Inquisition, the forced conversion of indigenous peoples at the hands of clergymen, the burning of witches, sexual abuses in the Catholic Church, etc., etc., etc. We largely remember the horrific on a subject.

Because the horrific and disturbing tends to stick, I want to thank everyone for taking a chance and reading this page. Thank you for reading in the hopes of finding something meaningful and relevant to your personal valley you may be travelling through. The inspiration for this page grew out of one of my Pinterest boards, Keeping the Faith.

The purpose of this page is to inspire hope and to invite you into a more personal part of my life. Also, to explain where my hope wells from. It is not to preach. It is not to judge. It is not to ostracize others. Nor is it to vent anger. I decided to keep my faith-based discussions limited to this page so if you read this blog, you don’t have to peruse the other pages and wonder when you’ll have to duck to avoid any Bible-thumping 🙂

As a whole, this blog  is intended as a safe place for all. It is my hope that my readers feel this way also.

 
Here are my thoughts on why this page is important to me –

1.  Anchor point. My faith is my anchor point. I will never be perfect. Being a man of faith doesn’t give me the right to judge others for being the same. A great phrase I heard recently is, “Don’t judge me because I sin differently than you.” It makes total sense. Rather, my faith gives me a set a values against which to make decisions and to calibrate my moral compass. Do I fall short? Often? You bet I do! But faith has given me ideals against which I can hold myself personally accountable. No one else. Just. Me. If you’re into performance improvement, you get me 🙂

2.  Hope. My faith has given me hope in the storms of adversity and despair. Faith has given me a totally new and counter-intuitive way of viewing my life circumstances. Instead of asking, “why me?” through valleys of despair, I now ask, “what can I learn?” I used to be bitter about hardships. Sometimes I still get that way. But the bitterness has largely given way to understanding and openness. I now try to thank Him for the hardships because it is the lesson learned that is tempering me into a more mature man. This is what I need.

3.  Testimony. This is my testimony. My story of triumph through trials; victory through valleys. I hope that these accounts offer hope and comfort to those who are dealing with despair and loneliness. My hope is that you will be able to take away something independent of whether or not you are a person of faith.

Thank you for being here with me.

-Chris

What is a lesson you have learned through a personal trial or valley? I’m interested to converse with you.