Speaking to me tonight...

There is an intimate relationship between joy and hope. While optimism makes us live as if someday soon things will go better for us, hope frees us from the need to predict the future and allows us to live in the present, with the deep trust that God will never leave us alone but will fulfill the deepest desires of our heart.

Joy in this perspective is the fruit of hope. When I trust deeply that today God is truly with me and holds me safe in a divine embrace, guiding every one of my steps, I can let go of my anxious need to know how tomorrow will look, or what will happen next month or next year. I can be fully where I am and pay attention to the many signs of God's love within me and around me ~Henri J.M. Nouwen

What a comfort it is to know that before we were born, God made His plan for us ~Corrie ten Boom

Let not our longing slay the appetite of our living ~Jim Elliot

The life of faith is lived one day at a time, and it has to be lived -- not always looked forward to as though the "real" living were around the next corner. It is today for which we are responsible. God still owns tomorrow ~Elisabeth Elliot

Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all utterly to Thee to be Thine forever. Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit. Use me as Thou wilt, send me where Thou wilt, work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost, now and forever ~Betty Scott Stam

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






Father, may Your love alone hold the key to my heart's joy and contentment.