Cinderella: How to Keep Hope in Despair

🕑 3 minutes

It was a big deal. My kids were watching the Disney classic, Cinderella for the first time. I sat with them, enjoying the nostalgia and reliving the story. Can you imagine a life with that oppression and injustice…? Being a slave in your own home?

Isn’t this happening to all Humanity at this time…?

And then the dramatic scene where the sisters rip her dress to shreds. Cinderella runs to the garden, weeping and in despair. The whole atmosphere changed in our house.

She had always been cheerful despite the cruelty of her “loved ones.” She took the orders with humility and kindness, not cursing them behind their backs.  We can learn a lot from that Princess..!

But now she was utterly crushed in spirit. Her head rested in her arms on a cold stone bench. This was. too. much.

Suddenly, a twinkeling of lights and a glistening in the air… The fairy Godmother appears, but  you see Cinderella’s head was resting in her lap all along…!

It’s a special scene that speaks to my heart about God’s hidden Presence in our lives.

If God Almighty were Face to face could you speak? Could you complain about your bad day to the Snowflake Maker? Would you feel free to curse and shout about injustice before the  Voice of Thunder? Could you breathe much less be silly, fart, or pick your nose in front of the Atom Calibrator?

God holds back so you don’t have to. And God wants to see all of you. Not some fake, dressed-up, well-behaved version. Not a smile-and-nod you, but the real, messed up, quirky, sometimes (all the time?) cursing because you’re so pissed you..

God wants Sons and Daughters, not slaves or servants. We are Divine Offspring– we just don’t/can’t see it yet….

Remember the story of the youth who became blind and was so angry that he wanted to quit life? One day his father asked him to fix something and left the house. The boy was alone and livid,  “What’s wrong with him?! Doesn’t he know Im blind!!” Eventually the youth attempts the chore, stumbling around, falling, getting up again, angry and surely crying, but each time, Persevering. Soon he completes the chore and a sense of accomplishment fills his heart. Hope starts to neutralize  his resentment. Maybe life is worth living…

Suddenly he hears his father’s voice, ‘Well done, son!’Apparently the father was in the house the whole time, near and ready to jump in if needed.

So Present, yet so Invisible…

Be encouraged. Despite the pain, hurt, rejection, grief, deep in the dark pit…you are wildly loved by a Wild God. Every little thing about you and every little care in your heart matters..how could it not? You’re God’s Kid!

If you feel down, don’t give in. Full of despair? Hang on! You may feel crushed, but there are Everlasting Arms underneath you. Your fairy godmother moment may be just around the corner…

“A bruised reed He will not break,
And smoking flax He will not quench;
He will bring forth justice for truth. ”
(Isaiah 42:3/Matthew 12:20, emphasis mine)

When the Royal Ambassador comes to try out the glass slipper, Cinderella’s stepmother locks her up. Drats, The end! Then the mice get the key…Hooray, There’s Hope! But then the stepmother trips up the man and the slipper shatters on the ground. Evil Wins! The End!

But let’s not be a slaves to our circumstances and what we See…..

Cinderella has the other slipper tucked in her pocket….Justice Prevails, The Great Grand Finale!

When all hope seems lost, pray for a breakthrough! When the storm is fierce, remember the Rainbow… we may be struck down, but we are not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:9).

A Happily Ever After is coming.

…in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us… (Romans 8:37)

---

This is part of the  “Wild Kids, Wild God- 31 Days Looking into God’s Heart” series.