Finding Hope Through a Bingo Game

I’m honored to have a special guest on my blog today. I met Hope Bolinger through the Serious Writer Club and we’ve connected on Twitter. Don’t you just love social media sometimes? We’ve yet to meet in person so I look forward to the day when the world opens up again and I can meet Hope at a writers conference.

We all experience dark times in life, and Hope’s life is no different. Yet, as you’ll read, God can give us joy, laughter, and hope even in the worst of circumstances. So, without further ado, I present to you Finding Hope Through a Bingo Game by Hope Bolinger.

The summer of 2018 was a downer to say the least.

A few months prior, my parents had divorced, a girl in my biblical prophecy class had committed suicide, my professional writing instructor and hero had been caught in thirty years of scandals where he sexually harrassed women, a number of school shootings had devastated local high schools in my area, and I decided that despite the fact I was working 4-5 jobs, that I’d write two books in two months.

So I did what anyone with depression and an overloaded schedule would do: I auditioned for a local play.

The theater that hosted auditions had often taken on familiar faces, and so, to my surprise, when I found my name on the cast list a week later, I had to stare at the computer screen for two solid minutes before the news sunk in. I’d landed the role of a “Bingo Caller” for a comedic ten-minute play titled, “Dee Plays Bingo.”

In “Dee,” two characters play bingo, and one just so happens to be Death personified. Fun stuff.

OK, Hope, so how does this all tie into how this play alleviated your horrible summer?

Glad you asked, mysterious hypothetical querier. 

God knew I needed something lighthearted that summer. I’d encountered divorce, suicide, and everything else and needed laughter.

So he granted me that through weekly rehearsals with the Dee crew. 

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A post shared by Hope Bolinger – Author/Agent (@hopebolinger)

By no means did content of the play have any intellectual, philosophical, or spiritual value, but God had given me something joyful to look forward to each week. That in spite of the dark events that had covered my spring and summer like a cloud, that He was always looking out for me.

Even if that just meant calling fake bingo numbers in rehearsal each week.

How are you seeing God work in even small ways during your darkest moments? Let us know in the comments!

God can give us joy, laughter, and hope even in the worst of circumstances. My guest @HopeBolinger, author of #Den, shares about the time she found #hope through a bingo game.

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Hope Bolinger is a literary agent at C.Y.L.E. and a graduate of Taylor University’s professional writing program. More than 800 of her works have been featured in various publications ranging from Writer’s Digest to Keys for Kids to HOOKED to Crosswalk.com. She writes about 250-300 articles a year. Her modern-day Daniel, “Blaze,” (Illuminate YA) released in 2019, and they contracted the sequel “Den” for July 2020. Her superhero romance she co-wrote with Alyssa Roat releases from INtense Publications in September 2020. Find more about her at hopebolinger.com.

Den by Hope Bolinger

Danny Belte barely survived his sophomore year at King’s Academy, having to deal with horrible initiation practices, stomach-churning cafeteria food, and the constant threat of arson.

His junior year doesn’t start off much better. Facing a series of mysterious suicide attempts that begin on day one–and a disturbing pattern that appears to connect them–Danny has a feeling something far more sinister is at play. He tries to narrow down a list of suspects as those closest to him disappear, one by one.

Can he protect his friends from a possible murderer on the loose? Or will he find himself trapped in a fate worse than a lions’ den?

I highly recommend Hope’s new book Den. I read Blaze, the first in this young adult series, and it ended on such a cliffhanger that I yelled at Hope. I hope she heard me! I can’t wait to find out what happens to the characters in Den. I suggest you have both books before you start reading!

Until next time,

Josie (with Hope!)