The conclusion of our study in the book of Job with a message of hope
Job’s story has a bittersweet ending. While he wound up with more than he had before, could his new blessings ever replace all that he had lost?
Topic > Christian Living > Hope & Joy >
How to build a bridge into someone else’s world, and bring the hope of Jesus to them
It’s not uncommon to find walls erected around someone’s heart. These barriers make reaching people with the love of God a bit more difficult. A timely message of hope from…
Find hope for your broken expectations
If you’ve ever experienced a broken dream, a bitter disappointment, or a crushing regret then you know what it’s like to experience unfulfilled expectations. Let’s walk the trail of broken…
“God, I cannot do this journey”
Carol’s son Jason had big dreams: a U.S. Naval Academy graduation, a fairy-tale wedding, and a new life with his wife and her two young daughters. But one fateful decision would end it all. Learn how even a life behind bars could not stop God’s redemptive plan for both Carol Kent and her son. […]
Confident expectations
Jesus wants to give you lasting hope! And today on Discover the Word, we are back in the Gospels, looking at Martha—someone who might be called one of the Bible’s most misunderstood characters! There’s another side to this woman that shows how biblical hope goes beyond just a wish, to confident expectation. Listen today to […]
Tears No Longer
In 2013 Dr. Ad Vingerhoets, a social and behavioral scientist from the Netherlands, wrote a book called Why Only Humans Weep. He’s one of only a few scientists who have dedicated their lives to studying why people cry. Vingerhoets states that “tears are of extreme relevance for human nature. We cry because we need other people.”
The Burden of Waiting
Over the last few years, two members of my family have faced life-threatening diagnoses. For me, the hardest part of supporting them through their treatments has been the constant uncertainty. I am always desperate for a definitive word from a doctor, but things are rarely that straightforward. Instead of being given clarity, we are often asked to wait.
It’s hard to bear the burden of uncertainty, always wondering what the next test will reveal. Will we have weeks, months, years, or decades before death separates us? But regardless of disease and diagnoses, each of us will die one day—things like cancer…
Spontaneous Love
Love is not premeditated—it is spontaneous; that is, it bursts forth in extraordinary ways. There is nothing of precise certainty in Paul’s description of love. We cannot predetermine our thoughts and actions by saying, “Now I will never think any evil thoughts, and I will believe everything that Jesus would have me to believe.” No, the characteristic of love is spontaneity. We don’t deliberately set the statements of Jesus before us as our standard, but when His Spirit is having His way with us, we live according to His standard without even realizing it.
Farming Hope
I’m not a farmer, but I once attempted to be one as the guest of a self-sustaining community. The group lived together in dormitories, eating their meals together as a family. They grew most of the food they consumed and raised cattle for milk and meat. During my stay, I performed a number of barnyard chores, from shoveling dung to taking the old cow on her morning walk around the property—leash and all!
When Good Friday doesn’t seem so good
For most of my life, Good Friday primarily served as a heads-up for a nice candy-gorge. I glossed over what it really represented, anticipating instead the large egg-hunts with my cousins around my grandparents’ farm on Easter Sunday.
God is enough
Is God really enough? In the face of losing a child, the grief can feel overwhelming. But as Mindy and Arlen found, God is more than enough. Discover God’s comfort and security for whatever you’re facing, even when you grieve. Since the time Arlen’s story was recorded, Hannah’s cancer has returned. She has just […]
Please don’t jump, there’s hope
I was just about to leave for work when a policeman knocked on my door. “Sir, do you know of any elderly woman living along this floor?”
Decreasing for His Purpose
He must increase, but I must decrease. —John 3:30
If you become a necessity to someone else’s life, you are out of God’s will. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a “friend of the bridegroom” (John 3:29). When you see a person who is close to grasping the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your…
Hope Beyond Discouragement
Jordan is a third-generation farmer who is taking over his father’s apple orchards. Recently we were talking about all the agricultural metaphors in the Bible. “On the farm, I learn so many spiritual lessons,” he said. As we conversed further, we discussed John 12:24—in which Jesus talks about the harvest that results from a single seed being buried in the ground. The wisdom found in that verse was encouraging, because during that season of life I was feeling emotionally dead—like a seed buried in the ground.
Is He Really My Lord?
…so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus… —Acts 20:24
Joy comes from seeing the complete fulfillment of the specific purpose for which I was created and born again, not from successfully doing something of my own choosing. The joy our Lord experienced came from doing what the Father sent Him to do. And He says to us, “As the…
The Land of “What Is”
Even all these years after losing our seventeen-year-old daughter Melissa in a car accident in 2002, I sometimes find myself entering the world of “What If.” It’s easy, in grief, to reimagine the events of that tragic June evening and think of factors that—if rearranged—would have had Mell arriving safely home.
In reality, though, the land of “What If” is not a good place to be for any of us. It is a place of regret, second-guessing, and hopelessness. While the grief is real and the sadness endures, life is better and God is honored if we dwell in the world…
River Tree
This was a tree to be envied. Growing on riverfront property, it didn’t have to worry about weather reports, withering temperatures, or an uncertain future. Nourished and cooled by the river, it spent its days lifting its branches to the sun, holding the earth with its roots, cleaning the air with its leaves, and offering shade to all who needed refuge from the sun.
By contrast, the prophet Jeremiah pointed to a shrub (Jer. 17:6). When the rains stopped and the summer sun turned the ground to dust, the bush shriveled into itself, offering no shade or fruit to anyone.
Why would…
The Lighthouse
By its very existence, a ministry center in Rwanda called the “Lighthouse” symbolizes redemption. It sits on land where during the genocide in 1994 the country’s president owned a grand home. This new structure, however, has been erected by Christians as a beacon of light and hope. Housed there is a Bible institute to raise up a new generation of Christian leaders, along with a hotel, restaurant, and other services for the community. Out of the ashes has come new life.
Those who built the Lighthouse look to Jesus as their source of hope and redemption. When Jesus went to the…
