Four Magic Words

A nurse ushered me into my grandma's room. Lying in the hospital bed, she looked so small. Her eyes were closed. I sat down quietly.

I was on my way to seminary and full of self-doubt. I had just given up a full scholarship to medical school, and everyone thought I was making a mistake. I desperately wanted Grandma's advice, but the nurse had warned me that she didn't have much strength left. After half an hour, Grandma hadn't stirred, so I just started talking. Suddenly she woke up, asking, "Danny, is that you?"

She told me how her faith had guided her all her life. After a few minutes, a great peace settled around us. I kissed Grandma and turned to leave, but then I heard her whisper some parting words. I leaned over to listen. "I believe in you," she said.

Grandma died that night, but in more than 20 years of work as a Christian psychologist, I have passed on her words many times. Four simple words can make a lifetime of difference. --Dan Montgomery

I consider my ability to arouse enthusiasm among the men [in my company] the greatest asset I possess, and the way to develop the best in a man is by appreciation and encouragement.

There is nothing else that so kills the ambitions of a man as criticisms from his superiors. I never criticize anyone. I believe in giving a man incentive to work. So I am anxious to praise, but loathe to find fault. If I like anything, I am hearty in my approbation and lavish in my praise. --Charles Schwab

The applause of a single human being is of great consequence.--Samuel Johnson

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.--William James

Hope Eternal!!

Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.
--Martin Luther

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Hope Eternal
By Ardis Whitman

Hope is the mechanism that keeps the human race tenaciously alive and dreaming, planning, building. Hope is not the opposite of realism. It is the opposite of cynicism and despair. The best of humanity has always hoped when there was no way, lived what was unlivable, and managed to build when there was little to build on.

"A merry heart does good like a medicine," says the book of Proverbs, in the Bible. This ancient knowledge has gained new confirmation in our time. It was found after World War II, for example, that American prisoners of war who had been convinced that they would come out alive, whose mind and spirit were focused on life as it was to be lived in the future, emerged with much less damage than those who felt they would never go home again.

Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman, of the University of Pennsylvania, has done much research on the causes of depression, the disorder that affects millions every year. He has found that depressed people regard every minor obstacle as an impassable barrier. Responding to anything is felt to be useless because "nothing I do matters." Successful therapy, he told me, starts when we begin to believe again that we can be effective human beings and can control our lives.

A man I knew had an alcoholic wife. Again and again she disappointed him. But he never lost hope. One night, she shamed him in front of old friends. Afterward, she broke into tears. "Why don't you leave me?" she cried. "Because I remember a very beautiful person," he answered. "And I believe she's still there." Ultimately, she did recover.

We hope as naturally as the seeds sprout and the sun rises, and perhaps for the same reasons. Hope's signature seems to be written on earth and sky and sea and all that lives. But natural and vital as hope may be, we can lose it. With many of us, hope simply grows tired as our lives grow tired.

Precisely because hope is in the natural flow of life, it is unleashed naturally by removing the abnormal impediments that block it. Here are some suggestions:

Hope for the moment. There are times when it is hard to believe in the future, when we are temporarily just not brave enough. When this happens, concentrate on the present. Cultivate le petit bonheur ("the little happiness") until courage returns. Look forward to the beauty of the next moment, the next hour, the promise of a good meal, sleep, a book, a movie, the immediate likelihood that tomorrow the sun will rise. Sink roots into the present until the strength grows to think about tomorrow.

Take action. "When I can't see any way out," a stranger wrote me some years ago, "I do something anyway." This is good advice to anyone paralyzed by despair.

Believe in hope. Don't be persuaded that the pessimists have a corner on truth. These people would rather live in the fog of skepticism than chance disappointment. It is the adult in us, not the child, which, when knocked down, gets up again and says, against the odds, "Tomorrow will be better." Hope is not a lie, but the truth itself.

So, summon hope. It is as right as spring sunlight. It is a goal in itself, an exercise in gallantry, a frame of mind, a style of life, a climate of the heart.

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When hope dies, what else lives?
--Ama Ata Aidoo (1942- ), Ghanaian writer.

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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 (The Bible, Romans 15:13 NIV).

Finally our hope and faith are strong and steady. Then, when that happens, we are able to hold our heads high no matter what happens and know that all is well, for we know how dearly God loves us. (The Living Bible, Romans 5:4b-5.)

What Is Faith?

Faith is not just hoping, believing or somewhat expecting, but faith is knowing--absolutely knowing!

Faith has lost its meaning to us today. Today the word "faith" means kind of a hazy, vague belief of some kind in something or other.

Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for" and the word translated "substance" in this verse is the Greek word "hupostasis". When the New Testament was translated from the Greek into English nearly 400 years ago, the translators were still puzzled by this word "hupostasis," as it seemed to be some kind of business terminology not normally used in classical Greek literature. All they knew was that it meant something fairly substantial, so they translated it as "substance."

But some years ago archaeologists uncovered the remains of an old inn in northern Israel. There they found a small iron chest containing the valuable papers of a Roman noblewoman who had owned lands and property in Israel. And almost every paper had this title in big letters across the top: "Hupostasis"! They were all title deeds to her properties! This Roman woman had perhaps never seen her properties in Israel, but she knew they were hers and she could prove her ownership because she had the title deeds.

Someone promised to give me a car once, and they sent the title deed to me by mail. Though I'd never seen the car and never driven it, I knew it was mine because I had the title in my hand. So faith is what?--The title deed! "Now faith is the title deed to things hoped for" (Hebrews 11:1). If you've asked the Lord for something but haven't seen the answer yet, don't worry. If you have real faith, then you've got the title to it in your hands, and your name is written on it! It's yours and you will see it eventually!

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Faith is believing when all seems past hoping,
Although receiving no glimmer of light,
Leaving the grieving and doubting and groping
To those who are living only by sight.

Faith is still trusting completely God's promise,
When it would almost seem God has forgot,
Refusing to be a weak doubter like Thomas,
Seeking no sign nor bemoaning our lot.

Faith is believing in God, and in clinging
To hopes of a future that one day shall be,
Faith is the courage to trust without doubting
That all that we hope for we one day shall see.

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"Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).

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How Do We Get More Faith?


It is impossible to have faith unless you have the Word, because your faith is something that is built by faithful study of God's Word.


Trying to have faith is a work of the flesh. Accepting faith through His Word is a work of God's grace.


If you're weak in faith it's because you're weak in the Word.


The very Words of God are mingled with supernatural power to be released by the touch of your faith.

Love Makes a Difference

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Into his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
--Emily Dickinson


Young Mrs. Benson had been so miserable! Her husband was away on a "refresher course," sent by his firm, and for the first time in her married life she had been left in the house on her own. My wife popped in to try to cheer her up. To her surprise, Mrs. Benson met her with a smile on her face.

"I've had another visitor," she explained. "She made me feel so ashamed. But I'm so glad." My wife couldn't quite understand what Mrs. Benson meant.

"It was the woman from around the corner," she explained. "Her husband was killed recently in a car accident and she's left with three small daughters. To think that in her trouble she could remember to look in to see how I was! Suddenly she made me feel like the luckiest woman in the world."

Mrs. Benson was silent for a moment. Then she added quietly, "I think I've learned something. Perhaps the only way to cure your own unhappiness is by trying to help someone else in theirs."--Francis Gay

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What does love look like? It has hands to help others. It has feet to go to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and sadness. It has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.-St. Augustine

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A smile of encouragement at the right moment may act like sunlight on a closed flower--it may be the turning point for a struggling life.

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About 200 years ago a well-known encyclopedia discussed the word "atom" with the use of only four lines. But five pages were devoted to a discussion of "love." In a recent edition of the same encyclopedia, five pages were given to the word "atom"; "love" was omitted. What a sad commentary on modern values!

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Stephen Grellet was a French-born Quaker who died in the U.S. in 1855. Grellet would be unknown to the world today except for a short prayer which lives on. The familiar lines, which have served as an inspiration to so many, are these: "I shall pass through this world but once. Any good that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now and not delay it. For I shall not pass this way again."