Overflowing Hope

L-R: Bill Wadley, Dan York, Laura Wadley

​He had a pretty rough upbringing with three different mothers and two different fathers.[1] His dad was an alcoholic and gambling addict. His 16-year-old birth mom was a drug and alcohol abuser. At the age of five, he had to take care of three half-siblings in the apartment, and if anything was broken or went wrong, he was beaten.  He was seventeen before he found out his stepdad was not his real father.  ​

Bill grew up in 22 different homes in 7 different states.  He never had a friend for more than 6 months or a year because his family constantly moved—sometimes in the dead of night to escape rent payments they owed.  For a while, 9 kids and 2 adults lived together in a station wagon.  Bill was often bullied and beaten up by other kids. For a time, the family lived in tents at Lake Mead, Nevada, which could get as hot as 120 degrees in the summer.  Bill would go through trashcans and dumpsters in the back of McDonalds to scrounge food for himself and the other kids, hoping no one from his high school saw him.   
 
Meditation 
Romans 15:13—Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 
 
Bill Wadley enlisted in the Army, and despite his traumatic background and academic struggles in prep school, he was admitted into West Point in the summer of 1977.  Four tough years later, he graduated as an Army officer. But his past was like a noose around his neck. Bill became a binge alcoholic and wrestled with pornography—two vices his stepdad sowed in his life. Combined with admitted hidden affairs, not even counseling could save his first marriage. Finally, in 2009, Bill reached the proverbial rock bottom.

"I got down on my knees and surrendered my life to God, telling Him, ‘I surrender all, do anything you have to do to me, I will do anything you tell me to, I want to be free of this hell I’m living in.’ I needed a new identity—what God intended me to be."

Today, Bill vibrantly loves God. He is blessed with a strong marriage and the fulfillment of a vision God birthed in his heart in 2005 to build a Christian school. His humility is as refreshing as his love for helping people. Despite overwhelming obstacles, Bill helped raise over three million dollars to launch Capstone Christian Academy, a school whose mission is to develop world-changing leaders, beginning with seven students, the enrollment has grown to 155 in four years.[2] How did God use such a broken man to achieve such an impossible dream? 
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Hope begins when we recognize that in our strength, we cannot find joy and peace or make life work, whether our background is disadvantaged like Bill’s or flushed with money, success, power, and fame. That recognition comes from Almighty God—a baseline belief that He will redeem us when we admit sin and trust Jesus. Then, as we follow the Savior, the Holy Spirit gives us overflowing hope—something to think about . . . in reveration. 

Inspiration 
“I place no hope in my strength, nor in my works: but all my confidence is in God my protector, who never abandons those who have put all their hope and thought in him.”—Francois Rabelais 
 
©2025 Daniel York  ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  To receive these devotionals, go to www.firstcause.org and click the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed, subject to the inclusion of this copyright notice.     
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)

[1] Bill Wadley’s testimony shared with the author 
[2] https://www.capstonechristian.com/