{"id":2003,"date":"2019-05-03T17:00:51","date_gmt":"2019-05-04T00:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.megamorphosismagazine.com\/?p=2003"},"modified":"2019-05-08T00:07:45","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T07:07:45","slug":"hope-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.megamorphosismagazine.com\/issue-7\/hope-generation","title":{"rendered":"Hope Generation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
by Nissi Guiao<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Ben Courson is a roaring wildfire<\/strong> fueled by a deep love for Jesus. He\u2019s found purpose in rioting normalcy as an \u201coptimisfit\u201d for Kingdom\u2019s sake; his passion has proven to be a contagious flame consistently igniting hungry souls, especially within the next generation. He leads with his life in reckless abandon\u2014his courageous surrender to the call that\u2019s been on his life from the very beginning. As a result of his loud obedience, God continues to provide open doors to the wildest of opportunities. Aside from being a host of a global TV and national radio program, Ben recently released his new book Optimisfits: Igniting a Fierce Rebellion Against Hopelessness <\/em>in March of this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cRight now, depression is one of the top-ten leading causes of death,\u201d says Ben Courson (founder and leader of Hope Generation<\/em> and author of Optimisfits: Igniting a Fierce Rebellion Against Hopelessness<\/em>). \u201cPeople commit suicide once every forty seconds. There are 123 suicides per day in the United States. We consume, as Americans, more pills due to anxiety and depression than the rest of the world combined by three times over. This gave me a passion to go share hope (that God gave me a couple years ago). That\u2019s how Hope Generation<\/em> really started.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThe Hope Generation<\/em> movement genuinely exploded from Ben\u2019s personal experiences. \u201cWhen [he] turned 18, [he] fell into a really, really deep depression\u2014chronic, heavy depression.\u201d He had just stepped into a Teaching Pastor role at his father\u2019s mega church and was having fun in his new position when a switch unapologetically flipped within him. He shares, \u201cI thought I was on the way to living my dream. And I had an amazing platform that my dad so graciously provided for me. I felt God\u2019s gifts and callings on my life, but I didn\u2019t feel like I was meeting the goals that I really wanted to accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThese feelings multiplied, and left Ben divided from his true self. Desperately wanting his life to mean something, he eventually found himself entangled in the wrong kind of thinking. He struggled in this mental space of severe depression \u201cfrom 18 years old to a decade after that.\u201d What essentially broke him free \u201cwas a verse that carried [him] through [that] darkest time. Psalm 37:4, which says \u2018Delight yourself in the Lord and He\u2019ll give you the desires of your heart.\u2019\u201d He explains, \u201cIt was this idea that God wanted to turn my reality into a \u2018dream-ality.\u2019 That, the suffering that I was going through\u2014yes, they were nightmares\u2014but I also had dreams. And I would conquer my nightmares because of my dreams. . .[they] carried me through the time of depression.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hope in a New Way<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Truth in the Word lit the path for Ben to begin dreaming again. It made a way for his great escape. And it wasn\u2019t long after before \u201cGod caused [his] dreams to come true.\u201d Miraculously, \u201cthat\u2019s when I really started to find my hope in a new way,\u201d he states. \u201cIt was really a God thing. He just opened up all these crazy doors. So, it was when those dreams started happening that I felt like Joseph, called out of the dungeon and into the palace. I was so stoked and also humbled. Like, deeply humbled and honored simultaneously that I got to see these dreams come true. That was big in overcoming depression for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tSince God brought Ben back to life, activated his dormant dreams and set him free, a newfound passion set ablaze in his heart to spread this message of hope that he intensely got to experience for himself. Things for him didn\u2019t take flight until God saw that he was ready, however. With humility he shares, \u201cIt\u2019s such a blessing because I did this thing called the 10,000 hour role where you have to practice a craft for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 4 years. I [spent those hours] speaking, reading, writing and [learning] the art of communication in 5 years. It was a constant training ground in preparation and waiting for opportunity to roll up. God showed me through this quote, \u2018We shouldn\u2019t wait for opportunity to roll up, we need to roll up our sleeves because you can\u2019t have a million dollar dream with a minimum wage work ethic.\u2019 You know, faith can move mountains, but don\u2019t be surprised if God hands you a shovel. A lot of my years were just looking forward to what was going to happen.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hope Alive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Ben talks about having these very specific dreams. Dreams and visions started coming true right before his eyes following his season of preparation. Patience and diligence grew the good seed planted in him, which at the proper time yielded harvest of plenty opportunity. With zero striving, a couple scouts and a publisher reached out to him at different points, asking him to be part of a TV\/Radio show and to write his own book. And right now, Ben teaches about 10 times a week. Seeing \u201ca movement of young people who are going from literal despair, depression, suicidal predispositions to a lifestyle of profound, sacred optimism in Jesus,\u201d he excitedly shares is \u201cHoly happiness.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tBen wholeheartedly believes, especially today, that God wants to do something new, something fresh. \u201cMy heart,\u201d he says, \u201cis that we would see this unification of this next generation rising up into a powerful place in regards to what God wants to do in our future. I\u2019m more concerned with where we\u2019re going than where we came from. In Isaiah, God said \u2018I want to do a new thing.\u2019\u201d The rich yet simple \u201cnow-for-this-day\u201d message that effortlessly spills from Ben\u2019s heart coupled with his relevant\/engaging communication style is the foundation of his ever-growing following of \u201cOptimisfits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deep Hope<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
God\u2019s umbrella of protection and blessing covers Ben with each step he takes in risking for the true gospel to be shared with the masses. He carries such wisdom and doesn\u2019t shy away from teaching in a different light than most have been used to hearing the Good News. He explains, \u201cThe fact of the matter is, fun is fundamental. Fun is not a message that we move on from, the more mature we get. It\u2019s actually a message we move deeper into the wiser we become. Because Jesus said, \u2018If you want to enter my Kingdom, you must become as a child.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tOne of the things this generation, I think, is discovering is really chewing \u2018the cut.\u2019 That\u2019s what it means to meditate deeper on Scripture, really chewing the meat (strong doctrine). It\u2019s actually becoming more child-like. It\u2019s realizing in maturity, hope is not something you graduate from. So, that idea of hope, joy and fun\u2014I want to deconstruct those words so they\u2019re not just like unicorns shooting rainbows out of their eyes, rainbow sandwiches, pegasus steaks, raining jelly beans and skittles\u2014all super fluffy, like airy-fairy, happy-clappy, wishy-washy pie-in-the-sky. I want to show people that these realities are actually very deep. Those are the realities I want our generation to run into, and that\u2019s what our generation\u2019s hungry for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Healing Hope<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow what\u2019s next for me,\u201d Ben openly shares, \u201cis going deeper into the dreams I\u2019m already experiencing. So, \u2018further up, further in,\u2019 as Aslan would say in Narnia<\/em>. Romans 15:13, it\u2019s actually a verse that I feel like is the mantra [God] would speak to our generation and to me personally, ‘Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.’ So, I believe that hope has the final word. That pain makes us stronger, tears make us braver, heartbreak makes us wiser so we can make our path for a better future. That our God is Jehovah Rapha\u2014He heals. He turns our scars into stars. He doesn\u2019t just say \u2018Hear My words,\u2019 He says, \u2018Touch My wounds.\u2019 You never see Jesus giving someone sickness to teach them a lesson. He\u2019s never like striking people down. He\u2019s healing people, and I believe God wants to heal our generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hope Never Dies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Yes, sociological research and data shows us that we\u2019re the most depressed generation on record, but I believe that\u2019s all going to change. I believe that we\u2019re going to see a spiritual awakening to the reality of the eternality import, of hope. That hope never dies. Hope has the last word. And I truly believe that our break-down is actually God\u2019s break-through in our lives. There is always reason to hope. I just tell people, \u2018Everything\u2019s going to be okay in the end. So if it\u2019s not okay, it\u2019s not the end. But it\u2019s okay if you\u2019re not okay. It\u2019s just not okay if you stay that way.\u2019 For me, I\u2019ve been through a lot of stuff. My brother went to heaven a couple [months] ago. . .and my sister also went to heaven when she was a teenager. They passed away, and I went through 10 years of chronic depression and major heartbreak that wrecked me emotionally for a long time. We just go through stuff in life that\u2019s really hard, but God has healed my heart. He\u2019s given me hope, so I believe His message for our generation (I want to speak this message as a resounding echo chamber) is\u2014there is always hope, as our Lord is the God of hope.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Nissi Guiao Ben Courson is a roaring wildfire fueled by a deep love for Jesus. He\u2019s found purpose in rioting normalcy as an \u201coptimisfit\u201d for Kingdom\u2019s sake; his passion…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102,42],"tags":[],"powerkit_post_featured":[94,92],"yoast_head":"\nHope Generation - Megamorphosis Magazine by Jenene Stafford<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.megamorphosismagazine.com\/issue-7\/hope-generation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hope Generation - Megamorphosis Magazine by Jenene Stafford\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Nissi Guiao Ben Courson is a roaring wildfire fueled by a deep love for Jesus. 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