NEVER GIVE UP The great Russian writer, Solzhenitsyn, tells the bravest story I’ve ever heard to encourage us not give up. In the Russian prison where he was, no one was allowed to speak. There was nothing to read, and encouragement of any kind to sustain life. He said the strain and repression from this atmosphere had set in so badly that he thought, “I will never get out of here.” So he considered taking his own life. He knew that if he tried to escape he would be shot, but he thought, “At least, that will be the end of that.” His faith would not allow him to do that, though. When day came, he was taken out early in the morning to work and when a break in the work day came, he sat under a tree. He even placed his hand behind him, up against the tree he leaned against, ready to push off and run. Just then a shadow came across the grass and a fellow prisoner sat down beside him. They could speak no words, but he looked into the eyes of the new man who had recently come as a prisoner and saw something he had never seen in any face in prison before-a message of love and concern. As their eyes locked in silence, they started communicating in their souls and the prisoner took a step forward and drew a cross on the ground with a stick. Solzhenitsyn said new hope surged within him at that moment. Jesus does love me. He is in command. It is not hopeless! Three days later he was released from that prison. At his release he learned that many people had been praying for him. He knew with powerful certainty that God is sovereign and there is still hope. We must not give up! We might be the one to communicate hope to someone else, maybe without words. We must love and pray and hold one another up.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 09:17:41 +0000
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