You Need Hope Before Faith

If you are struggling as badly as I once was with depression, anxiety, stress, eating disorders or suicidal thoughts, don't feel discouraged on the healing journey. You are on the right track. Keep hope in your heart and faith will enter.

You need to have hope before you have faith. Without hope, there is no faith.

I've heard several influential people on various social media platforms say that you should give up the word hope and instead use the term faith, and that placing too much confidence in hope can't sustain you. No matter how I look at their opinion, without hope, you cannot sustain yourself! Perhaps these people didn't consider the definition of hope, so I'm going to explain and show you that they both have very different meanings. And I want you to always maintain hope when you are struggling.

The Oxford dictionary states that the meaning of hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen; a feeling of trust; wanting something to happen or be the case; and to intend if possible to do something. 

The definition of faith is complete trust or confidence in something or someone; a strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof; a symbol of religious belief; and a strongly held belief or theory.

With hope you go from having a desire or a feeling of wanting something to happen, to faith - having complete trust or confidence in something (or someone). If you don't have hope, you cannot have faith. Neither can you have faith without hope.

I recall on my lowest days when I contemplated suicide, faith was the last thing on my mind. I was bitter; I was angry; I didn't have faith in anyone or anything. However, to overcome the thoughts of suicide, I had to hang onto hope; hope that my circumstances would change, that I could survive another day on the streets, or that I could keep my chin up long enough in an abusive relationship to see that life wasn't so bleak. 

A Play On Words for Sales

So please don't listen to or stop listening to influential people that trip you up with words. This sort of sales technique is downright manipulative and abusive! There is another argument with the word empowerment - the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights. These individuals claim that you are already empowered; you just have to 'let it out', sort of speak. I can tell you, for certain, that you are not empowered if you are suicidal. 

Please stop listening to people that like to confuse you or play with your psyche. Whether consciously or not, or whether they think this is the way to "sell" people on their products and services, it's not the right way to do it. In the process of doing it, they make you feel bad for thinking and feeling a certain way, which is an old school way of selling others on their services and merchandise. This way of selling is obsolete or should be anyway. They are not instilling hope, faith, or self-empowerment into you. Quite frankly, they are instilling self-doubt. 

Awareness

To change someone's perspective, is to create awareness by asking powerful and thoughtful questions. Trust your gut. You know what's best. I simply wanted to make you aware that influencing others doesn't mean manipulating others. 

You need hope before faith, and self-empowerment comes when you continue doing the work of healing your mental and emotional self. 

Healing

If you are struggling as badly as I once was with depression, anxiety, stress, eating disorders, or suicidal thoughts, don't feel discouraged on the healing journey. Keep hope in your heart, reach out, and faith will enter. 

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