Closed Doors, Open Hope: Helen Keller and Romans 5:3-5

Some of the strongest lessons come from lives that began with a closed door. Helen Keller was born in 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. After an illness at 19 months old she lost both her sight and her hearing. According to Wikipedia, she communicated with home signs until she was seven, when she met her first teacher and lifelong companion, Anne Sullivan. She went on to study at Radcliffe College and earned a bachelor's degree.

Her story reminds us that God often sends a patient helper at the right moment, and that a hard beginning is not the end of the story.

Key verse: "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." - Romans 5:3-5 (KJV)

Reflection: Hope is not pretending the struggle is small. It is trusting that God can use even the long, quiet seasons to build something in us. And often the "Anne Sullivan" in our story is someone God has placed beside us, a teacher, a parent, a brother or sister in the church.

Prayer point: Lord, send us patient helpers in our hard seasons, and make us patient helpers to others.

Over to you: Who was the "helper" God placed in your life when things looked closed? And what hard season in your life has taught you the most about hope? Share below and encourage someone.

Sources: Wikipedia, "Helen Keller" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller).
Photo: Helen Keller, circa 1904, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)