When battling cancer, it’s important to (1) be honest about your feelings and emotions; (2) trust the God who is on your treatment team; (3) rejoice that in Christ, all believers are on a march toward life; and (4) therefore, to keep your focus not on the temporal seen but on the glorious eternal unseen!

Though David was stuck in a miry bog like depression, his faith continued to hope in the God who heard his prayers and eventually drew him out to solid ground. God’s appraisal of our life is the one that counts, and He can raise anyone from the pit, including Himself on Easter morning!

One out of six couples struggle with infertility today, much like Hannah did in 1 Samuel. We learn from Hannah’s journey though, not just awareness of and great sensitivity to this hardship, but also hope in the God who deeply loves and cares about our pain.

Even as His people were subject to captivity and exile, and in our case to a COVID pandemic, God is always with us, no matter how deep the “river” gets or how hot the “fire” burns.

Though valleys in life are inevitable and impartial, by God’s transformative presence and grace, we can see our valleys as temporary, purposeful, and beneficial opportunities for faith and character building.

Though Isaiah’s world and ours can get very, very dark, the light of Jesus has risen and shines the darkness - our deepest darkness - away.

Christian generosity is the lone area of discipleship where God invites us to test Him. God promises abundant blessing - sometimes temporal, always eternal - when we bring our full tithes and offerings to Him. Moreover, when we live generously, we show our faithfulness and trust in Him.

The heart of the matter is really a matter of the heart. Christian generosity reflects and responds to the heart of the first and greatest giver: God in Jesus Christ. As we look to God, we see that giving is free and joyous, never reluctant or obligatory.