How would you rate your bounce back today as it pertains to hope?
1. Not hopeful at all.
2. Somewhat hopeful but not expecting much.
3. Hopeful and expecting great things to happen.
If your feelings are hovering somewhere between 1 and 2, you are not alone. A reader in
Williamsburg, Virginia wrote to say, “I need a little bounce as all the troubles of this country and
the world are weighing on my spirit.”
Lately I seem to hear more and more of the negative echoes voiced by our newscasters,
politicians, radio hosts, journalists and the like. I hear it in the conversation of stockroom boys
at the grocery store, in the waiting room of doctors’ offices and even in the halls of my church.
More and more people are in need of “a little bounce” because, where hope is lost or fading,
depression is soon found.
But be encouraged. There are other conversations too. Voices of faith that echo the joy found
where hope endures. Author Kay Warren describes this joy as, “The settled assurance that God
is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going
to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.”
While exploring details of the September 26, 2014 National Be Heard Vigil for the
Persecuted Church being held locally at 6:00 PM at the State House in Columbia, SC, I
encountered just such a conversation. It was an extraordinary report given by Naghmeh Abedini,
the wife of American Pastor Saeed Abedini, imprisoned over the past two years by Jihadists
in Iraqi, during an interview hosted by Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship in
Riverside, California. Naghmeh’s testimony, of the daily hope God has provided her during
the past two years of her husband’s imprisonment and the joy she has found in the midst of her
ordeal, gave me an extra measure of bounce and I know it will do the same for you.
Click here or copy and paste this address in the search bar of your computer to listen to the
interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmUwiS0UL1c
Click here or copy and paste to find a vigil location near you:
http://beheardproject.com/prayer-vigil/saeed
Can’t get out to attend a vigil? Click here or copy and paste to join the vigil through a
conference call http://bit.ly/1rdm9YW
There is unbelievable power in prayer – power that impacts the lives of those being prayed for
as well as the lives of those who are praying. Pray and 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)
