I get requested on a regular basis after I share my testimony throughout the nation, “What occurred?” What caused such a change in a person who appeared to be to this point off observe? I like speaking about it, and for positive writing about it. Hope, I at all times inform folks. Hope. What do you imply by hope? Generally we get the world’s view of hope confused with the immovable, everlasting hope in Christ. I lived in Chicago for practically 20 years, and I at all times hope the Cubs win the World Collection. I hope the climate is excellent on the holiday I am planning. That’s the day-to-day hope we’ve got in our hearts as life comes racing at us 100 miles per hour. That isn’t the hope of the Bible that I’m talking of now.
What Modified?
What modified for me occurred within the darkest interval of my life. When every part appeared to be taking place the drain, and my life felt prefer it was over, one thing occurred. You see, I used to be in a jail cell. I used to be in my 40s, a university graduate, performed skilled basketball in Europe for two years, performed within the minor leagues of the NBA right here within the states, and got here from mother and father who have been married for 64 years. I used to be raised in an upper-middle-class dwelling with good individuals who liked me. I did not have any of the intense issues that 85% of the folks incarcerated had. I wasn’t born into poverty, crime, abuse, neglect… none of that.
The issue I had was an habit to myself. I used to be hooked on consideration, to issues, to folks, to glory, to cash, what I drove, the place I lived – all of it. All of it mattered even after I stated it did not. I went to church practically each Sunday for ten years and sat in the identical pew week after week, and but there I used to be sitting in a jail cell, alone and scared. I used to be utterly traumatized from what had simply occurred, and had I been given superior discover, I could have thought of killing myself. I nonetheless can’t imagine that horrendous feeling.
Prayer… and Hope
I sat there on the sting of my mattress, alone in my cell, and thought my life was over… and on the floor, it completely was. The ramifications of one thing like that taking place to somebody like me in at present’s world are lifelong. I had no clue what to do subsequent. Then it hit me: pray. Pray? That appears phony, would not it? After all, when you don’t have anything left, you continue to have prayer. I slid to the ground on my knees, and possibly for the primary time in my life, actually prayed from my coronary heart. I poured out how sorry I used to be that I had wasted all that God had blessed me with, how I had ruined all of the alternatives He had given me, and I requested for forgiveness. I spent a number of minutes quietly listening and crying.
Once I completed, I sat on the sting of my mattress – nonetheless shaken – however one thing very unusual occurred on the identical time. I felt peaceable. For the primary time in a really very long time, I really felt at peace. My circumstances had not modified; I used to be nonetheless in a determined place, however I felt totally different. What occurred? What occurred was for the primary time in my life, I felt real HOPE. I felt, for the primary time, like I wasn’t in cost; moderately, I used to be being led. I had no clue the place, but it surely felt totally different, like by no means earlier than. I started considering in a different way, studying God’s Phrase extra deeply, and interesting with others about Christ.
Hope That Solely Comes from Christ
I inform folks nowadays, years later… HOPE is what modified me. The unimaginable, deep love of Christ that no scenario or circumstance may take away from me. In my coronary heart, I used to be modified. I had a hope that there was extra to life now, no matter what occurred to me prior to now. Oh, the highway was not clean, easy, or paved with new alternatives… no. There have been troublesome instances, challenges, and setbacks, however in all of it, the main factor that by no means modified was absolutely the hope that I discovered in Jesus Christ. You see, actual hope can’t be altered by circumstances. It’s the energy of the love of Christ, the reassurance of being with Him for eternity, that by no means leaves, it doesn’t matter what. It’s wonderful to obtain it, to be in it, and to really feel it. This hope creates a basis so deep in our souls that it turns into immovable, altering us eternally.
Photograph Credit score: Rawpixel/Public Area
Dion Welton is the creator of 5 books, together with Are WE Actually Forgiven, and the Baggage we Carry. He’s the founder and writer of the publication Hope is Now, one of many fastest-growing faith-based encouragement publications within the nation. You may study extra about Dion at dionwelton.com
Initially revealed April 01, 2026.
