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Key Bible Verse: For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever (2 Corinthians 4:18). Bonus Reading: 2 Cor. 4:14–18

Lewis Smedes tells about a pastor's wife who works at an AIDS clinic in Los Angeles. A new doctor insensitively told one patient that he wouldn't live out the year. As the man left, he stopped at Tammy's desk and wept, "He took away my hope."

"I guess he did," Tammy answered. "Do you have another one?"

I remember a couple of trying months. An oversight in our tax preparation meant an unexpected, whopping extra payment. Within days, our van's transmission gave up the ghost. Meanwhile, at work, painful letters were landing in my in-box, hard things were said about my leadership.

When circumstances crowd out your view of God, stop looking at them. I suddenly realized how funny it was to believe that those few difficult events defined life for me. I began to think through how many things I had to thank God for. Soon I saw the mountainous recent events for the small speed bumps they really were.

Holding fast to hope means not letting circumstances have the last word. Despair says circumstances tell us what's true about God. Hope says God tells us what's true about circumstances.

—David Henderson in Discipleship Journal

My Response: What "speed bumps" are obscuring my view of the divine Mt. Everest?

Thought to Apply: We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. —Martin Luther King Jr. (civil rights leader)

Adapted from Discipleship Journal (11-12/99) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Dear God, I thank You that what is unseen is eternal. Give me the eyes of faith to see reality.

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