First sentence: Sometimes hope is hard to come by.
Good news: This book is really short. Bad news: This book is really short.
Seriously though, it is packed with truth and encouragement. Sometimes when we need truth and encouragement the most, we are not in a place where a LONG book, a THICK book would work for us--mentally, emotionally, spiritually--even physically. So I do think the content complements the format.
This booklet is about hope--holding onto hope in the midst of suffering and discouragement.
Favorite quotes:
Do you know who the truly handicapped people are? They are the ones--and many of them are Christians--who hear the alarm clock go off at seven-thirty in the morning, throw back the covers, jump out of bed, take a quick shower, choke down breakfast, and zoom out the front door. They do all this on automatic pilot without stopping once to acknowledge their Creator, their great God who gives them life and strength each day. Christian, if you live that way, do you know that James 4: 6 says God opposes you? "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
My wheelchair is not my cross to bear. Neither is your cane or walker your cross. Neither is your dead-end job or your irksome in-laws. Your cross to bear is not your migraine headaches, not your sinus infection, not your stiff joints. That is not your cross to bear. My cross is not my wheelchair; it is my attitude. Your cross is your attitude about your dead-end job and your in-laws. It is your attitude about your aches and pains. Any complaints, any grumblings, any disputings or murmurings, any anxieties, any worries, any resentments or anything that hints of a raging torrent of bitterness--these are the things God calls me to die to daily. For when I do, I not only become like him in his death (that is, taking up my cross and dying to the sin that he died for on his cross), but the power of the resurrection puts to death any doubts, fears, grumblings, and disputings. And I get to become like him in his life. I get to experience the intimate fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, the sweetness and the preciousness of the Savior. I become holy as he is holy. O God, "you will make me full of gladness with your presence" (Acts 2: 28).
It is when your soul has been blasted bare, when you feel raw and undone, that you can be better bonded to the Savior. And then you not only meet suffering on God's terms, but you also meet joy on God's terms.
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