There is Hope: For Those Who are Ill and Those Who Care

By Robert J Hillman and Coral Chamberlain

Robert Hillman presents an approach to illness that will help you receive all the healing possible for you in every aspect of your life - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social. He has written this book to give you hope, whatever your circumstances. In a simple, balanced way, drawing on personal experience, he encourages you to see that serious illness need not be accompanied by a sense of despair. It is even possible that your illness may be the beginning of real life for you.

"Amidst the plethora of books on healing in recent years, few are as impressive from a practical point of view as this small book." Dr Robert Claxton, surgeon

"What a beautiful book! The love, tenderness, compassion and understanding shine through." A grateful reader

About the authors
Robert J Hillman BA, BD, PhD was in full-time church ministry and a popular speaker for many years. Then came the diagnosis of non-curable cancer with subsequent radical medical treatment and enforced early retirement. But this did not keep him from being involved in a caring ministry, especially the care of those who were ill. He also devoted time to writing in his latter years, in the fervent hope that others might benefit from the insights he gained during his long journey with serious illness.
Coral Chamberlain MSc, PhD is a former biomedical researcher and a writer-editor. Her role has been to bring the first 1992 edition and this revised and updated edition of "There is Hope" to publication.

Ark House Press (Sydney) published this edition in paperback format in 2018 and prepared eBook version for author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert J Hillman
• Release date: Oct 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9780648458555

Robert J Hillman

Robert J Hillman BA, BD, PhD was in full-time church ministry and a popular speaker for many years. Then came the diagnosis of non-curable cancer with subsequent radical medical treatment and enforced early retirement. But this did not keep him from being involved in a caring ministry, especially the care of those who were ill. He also devoted time to writing in his latter years, in the fervent hope that others might benefit from the insights he gained during his long journey with serious illness.

Book preview

Ark House Press

PO Box 1722, Port Orchard, WA 98366 USA

PO Box 1321, Mona Vale NSW 1660 Australia

PO Box 318 334, West Harbour, Auckland 0661 New Zealand

arkhousepress.com

© Coral Chamberlain 2018

First edition © 1992 Robert J Hillman, published by Anzea Publishers, Homebush West NSW, Australia (ISBN 0 85892 504 4); reprinted 1992.

Revised edition (Bahasa Indonesian) ADA PANGHARAPAN bagi yang sakit dan yang merawat © 2011 Hillman Foundation, Coral Chamberlain, Kesempatan Pty Ltd, published by Menemani, Jakarta, Indonesia (ISBN 978 602 19130 0 0).

Revised edition, There Is Hope: For Those Who Are Ill and Those Who Care © 2018 Coral Chamberlain, published by Ark House

Unless otherwise indicated, biblical quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, no part of this work may be reproduced by electronic or other means without the permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-6484585-5-5 (ebk)

Author: Robert John Hillman

Title: There Is Hope: For Those Who Are Ill and Those Who Care

ISBN: 9780648371991

Subjects: Healing & Wholeness; Spiritual Growth; Pastoral Care

Other Authors/Contributors: Chamberlain, Coral

Design by initiateagency.com

‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and

peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’

Romans 15:13

Contents

Foreword: 

Foreword to the first edition: 

Preface: 

Chapter 1:The need for hope 

Chapter 2: Medical science gives hope 

Chapter 3: Psychology and emotional healing 

Chapter 4: Dealing with stress 

Chapter 5: The importance of lifestyle 

Chapter 6: Spiritual resources 

Chapter 7: Living in relationship 

Chapter 8: More about hope 

Epilogue: 

Acknowledgments: 

Notes: 

Appendix: 

About the authors: 

FOREWORD

The first edition of There Is Hope was launched in February 1992 at a special event celebrating Robert Hillman’s life. His family, friends, colleagues in ministry, with many others who appreciated knowing him, gathered to share this occasion with him. Full of gratitude that he was alive and well enough to be there, he contributed with typical joy and enthusiasm. Just eight weeks later, on 1 April, he suffered an overwhelming infection and his earthly life quietly ended.

Although more than twenty-five years have gone by since this book was first released, I am still approached by people who are keen to buy a copy for themselves or for someone they care about. Their continuing interest and their disappointment when told There Is Hope was no longer available have been my motivation for producing this revised and updated edition. In doing so, I have done my best to remain true to Robert Hillman’s original intent and his gift for connecting with his readers.

My hope is that, through this new edition, Robert Hillman’s words of timeless wisdom, encouragement and hope will continue to provide inspiration and comfort.

Coral Chamberlain

July 2018

Foreword to

the first edition

It was in the Australian winter of 1989 that I first met him. I was beginning a brief appointment at a university in Sydney, having come with the strong sense that somehow this would be an important year for me spiritually. I began asking around for a ‘spiritual director’—a person to guide me in this quest. ‘Perhaps you should talk to Bob Hillman,’ someone told me.

I explained what I was looking for, and Bob declined. He told me he was not prepared to be a spiritual director but he would be glad to talk to me about the right person. And so our weekly meetings began, and continued until our parting the following winter.

I realise now that those hours spent with Bob were the most significant experiences of my year in Australia. In a quiet, gentle and confident manner, he taught me much about prayer, meditation, healing and hoping. Slowly I learned of his own story, of his long and remarkable journey against impossible odds. By all human reckoning, the cancer should have ended his life six years before I met him. Yet here was a man, living with progressive and terminal cancer, whose spirit simply overflowed. He continued writing, teaching, preaching and pastoring. An avid walker, he kept in admirable physical condition. Though he had every human justification, I never found him focused on or preoccupied with himself.

Through it all, he sought to keep growing, to be aware of all that was happening, and to share with others what he had been given. This book is one fruit, one precious gift, that has grown out of his journey. It will be more than a comfort to those who are living with dying.

The miracle of Bob’s life is not a sudden and dramatic disappearance of his cancer but rather his persistent and humble openness to all that God and life have to offer. He has neither accepted defeat nor set out to ‘win’ against cancer. Instead, he has sought day by day to pursue wholeness, to find and be found by God. It is a peaceful perspective that I, not yet terminally ill, am seeking to keep at the centre of my own life. It is an awareness that living has little to do with not-dying, and everything to do with hoping and loving.

Thank you, Bob.

William R. Miller, PhD

Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry

The University of New Mexico USA

Christmas 1990

PREFACE

Ihave been thrust into a special awareness of the many different ways in which healing comes by my own long struggle with cancer. I believe that throughout the course of my illness the resources and strategies described in this book have been responsible for keeping me alive far beyond medical expectation and giving me a remarkable quality of life, for which I am truly grateful. During this period I have also had the privilege of