Is there any room for optimism today?  That may depend on your definition of optimism.  If you see it as looking for a black cat in a dark room, or feeling for a light switch that has been removed, originally connected to a burned‑out bulb, I guess there is not room for much optimism today, but if you believe that it is still God—not chance or fate—who is in control of our universe, there is still room for hope.  When we look beyond the headlines and read the last chapter, we come to understand that the scope of God's power can be brought to bear on the difficulties of life whether they are national or personal.