Hope is the word that lingers in my head these days.  There’s a lot of people in need of hope.  Hope in conquering the past, the present, and the fears of the future.  Hope…

I watched and interview yesterday on CBN.  CBN’s guest was Glenn Beck.  They were talking about his new book, The Christmas Sweater.  It was a very emotional interview… full of redemption and hope.  As I enter into December 2008, I am going to focus on hope.

Romans 5:1-5 in the Message,

1-2By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

 3-5There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!