WHY DO I REMAIN HOPEFUL?

   I remain hopeful because I don't have a choice. I remain hopeful because although I've just spent the last 38 days quarantined in an 8 by 12 prison cell - due to the covid-19 pandemic crisis - none of the inmates here, including myself, contracted the covid-19 virus; and I pray that none of us do. Yes, I could complain and be bitter about this whole ordeal, but I choose not to, because then I could eventually end up walking on the brink of utter despair.
   During the past 38 days I was only let out my cell three times a week - for an hour - to use the phone, take a shower, use the e-mail, and guess what ? Get some ice. :-) I continuously looked out my Plexiglas metal-meshed window to appreciate the sun, the birds, the grass and the trees, visually, of course; wishing I could actually go out there and experience them.
   Still I remain hopeful. Hopeful that one day I will breathe the air as a free man. Hopeful that one day I will listen to the traffic going by, car horns blaring, and people jostling all around sidewalks going to and fro. In other words, to the routine aspect of our human every day living. It's funny, the last time I actually saw cars driving down the highway was over 12 years ago - when I was being transferred  to my present institution of confinement.
   Again, I remain hopeful. I have no choice in the matter. It is through my faith in Jesus that I am kept sane. It is through my devoted prayers and meditation that I am kept balanced, serene, and peaceful, amidst the merciless experience of incarceration and its demeaning effects. It is through the difficulties in life that I've actually learned to depend on God - and to consequently smile. :-)  It is through the Spirit of God endowing me every single day telling me not to give up. It is through the resounding words of someone from long ago - who experienced the same circumstances as I do - that keeps me going. Words that say: "I've learned to be content in whatsoever situation I am in ... I've learned to live on almost nothing or with everything ... I can experience and do everything through Christ who strengthens me ..." Phil. 4:11,13  This is why I remain hopeful.  #freedwinrubis