Sunshine Cathedral

On Hope & Faith

Sunshine Cathedral

Day 1 of 8: Finding Hope

“…affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
-Romans 5:4b-5 (NAB)

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” When we hear this oft-quoted truism, we may understandably conduct a quick mental review of the tragedies, heartbreaks, losses, and suffering we have experienced looking for a definitive example of where this was decidedly not true for us.

And, it is possible that some experience of affliction we have endured left us only broken and defeated. But by and large, we have proven resilient; when circumstances have brought incredible pain and suffering into our lives, we were able to persevere and found ourselves stronger in some way in the end.

We are made of some remarkably tough stuff.

The apostle Paul recognizes this. A verse earlier in Romans 5, he has just written how we “rejoice” in the hope we rightfully have because of the goodness of God. But then he immediately says that we also “rejoice” in seasons of affliction, which we respond to by developing character traits that also lead us to a place of hope.

Hope is powerful. Hope keeps us connected to the power of God’s love and presence that is already within us.

Dear God, may we find hope in your goodness. May we also find hope because of our own resolve in the face of affliction. May our hope point us always to your love and presence at work in us.*

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Sunshine Cathedral

Rev. Ty Bradley
Social Justice Minister

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