Hope Floats

One of my favorite movies is "Hope Floats."  It sends a great message that there is always hope...even after your darkest moments, there is hope.  For those of you that haven't seen the movie, it displays a woman's life after she was brought on public television to have her husband tell her he had an affair.  Completely humiliated in front of the whole world...she had lost all hope.  Her and her daughter moved.  It showed this woman's struggles with depression, how she learned to appreciate her mother even though she was a little "different", how she was re-introduced to an old high school boyfriend, and ultimately...how she came out of the darkness.  This movie ends with the couple and her daughter walking through the county fair and a quote that I have remembered since the very first time I watched that movie, "Beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but it's the middle that counts the most...and you need to remember that when you find yourself at the begining.  Just give hope a chance to float up...and it will too!" (Hope Floats). 
This is so true for so many parts of our life.  Think of that "humiliation" in your life.  That one thing that brings you darkness.  How can you make that better?  Who can you go to for help?  How can you find hope to bring you through that darkness and let you shine again?  I don't know if I would say I am shining...but I am definitely not in the dark anymore.  I was in a deep dark place...sexual abuse, eating disorders, teen pregnancy, affairs...all gave me a lot of darkness and alot of despair.  I was a very unhappy person that I did not like.  I was here, on this earth to live my life...and I was not living.  I knew at my "rock bottom" moment when I chose to reach out to God, and I felt that grace...that peace...I knew there was hope.  I realized that I could live my life with despair, or I could live my life with hope...both would take me to the same destination, but I know the journey is going to be a lot more enjoyable on the road of hope. 
There is hope for all of us.   There is hope for our communities.  There is hope for our schools.  I look at hope as that amazing grace that God gives us to control our fears...we don't have to be afraid.  There is help...there is love...there is hope.  Remember this when you find yourself at the beginning...open your heart to God's grace and hope...allow happiness to come in...and hope WILL float!