Dec.13.02: Light For The Day - "Hope Revived"

-- Psalms 31:24 (NIVUS)
"Be strong and take heart,
all you who hope in the LORD."

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Take from us our wealth and we are hindered.
Take our health and we are handicapped.
Take our purpose and we are slowed, temporarily confused.
But take away our hope, and we are plunged
into deepest darkness ... stopped dead in our tracks,
paralyzed. Wondering, "Why?" Asking, "How much longer?
Will this darkness ever end?
Does He know where I am?"

Then the Father says, "That's far enough,"
and how sweet it is! Like blossoms in the snow,
long-awaited color returns to our life.
The stream, once frozen, starts to thaw.
Hope revives and washes over us.

Inevitably, spring follows winter.
Every year. Yes, including this one.

-- Charles Swindoll

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-- 3 Thessalonians 3:16,17;4:1 (NIVUS)
"May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father,
who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal
encouragement and good hope,
17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you
in every good deed and word.
1 Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message
of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored,
just as it was with you."

-- 1 Peter 1:3
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In his great mercy he has given us new birth into
a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead."

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