Love Wins!

It's only the second week of February but the early signs of Spring are all around us here in Guernsey. Bulbs which have been hiding under the dark cold ground for months are starting to bring colour, vibrancy and hope to our wind blasted gardens and hedgerows. These early signs of Spring are really heartening, giving us the sense that better days lie ahead. The cold dark season we are in will not last for ever. The seeds of renewal may lie hidden, but their power to break through is irresistible. 

It's important to have hope in the darkness, expectation instead of dread, and a sense that the future God has planned for us will be so much better than the barren winter barely passing. In our wider world there is such sadness. As I write, the death of a prominent Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, has shocked and saddened the western world. Images of his bereaved wife and children add to the sense of profound sorrow being felt by millions. There is a cold, barren emptiness in a large swathe of Eastern Europe as the war in Ukraine rages on, and lives are being lost in the battle against tyranny. Elsewhere, in Israel and Gaza there is such huge sadness as we witness the wanton death and destruction being wrought and their impact on ordinary men, women and children on both sides. Can there be any bulbs of hope beneath this dreadful soil?

As Christians, our hope is in God. He is not finished with us yet and is working out his plan in these end-times through all the earth, whether in East or West. There may be times in our lives when we fear that our cause is futile, our case hopeless. I felt that over the long years of my chronic illness. Sometimes it just feels like the weight and fire-power of our enemy is overwhelming. The price of hanging on and persevering can seem too high. Don’t give up! God is on our side. The enemy of our souls may gloat over temporary or even long-term advances against us, but the end of the story is clear. Love wins, God wins, goodness triumphs over evil! Hang in there!

 

Baby Steps to Freedom

 

As Covid restrictions ease and, at least legally, end completely in Guernsey after February 17th, and in the UK a couple of weeks later, there will be some of us feeling a bit nervous. The two-year long battle against this unseen but potentially deadly foe has taken its toll on us all, whether we have had Covid or not. Some have lost loved ones whilst many have been shielding, afraid of going out. We are grateful for one of the best vaccination records in the world and for all the care and oversight of our medical and Public Health teams, but it feels strange to be coming out of this pandemic with hundreds of cases in our islands and lots of new ones being discovered each day.

Taking baby steps out of the pandemic is a challenge to our faith, our hope, and our love. Our faith because we must choose not to let fear dominate us in the aftermath of all we have been through. Our trust in God means that we need to heed the many ‘fear nots’ in the Bible (some say that there are 366 – one for every day of the year and one for a leap year) and choose to be grateful for the amazing grace that has seen us through thus far and will take us forwards. Faith in our dedicated public health and medical teams is also well founded given their track record. And hope, because ultimately our hope is in God, his faithfulness, and his promises. The opposite of hope is despair and no good ever came out of that, so we don’t want to go there. Keeping a positive and hopeful attitude can see us through the most appalling difficulties if we put our trust in God, so as we climb up the other side of this viral valley it is needed more than ever.

Love means that we recognise that not everybody is travelling out of this pandemic at the same speed. Some feel very unsure, vulnerable, and uncertain, while others are bruised by grief, financial hardship, and loss. We can help one another by respect and patience and by simple words of encouragement that can lift a heavy load. Faith, hope and love may be the three main virtues of the Christian faith, but they make good sense for people of all faiths or of none as we move into the uncharted waters of recovery from a devastating global pandemic.

Is there any Hope?

"Hope is vital - it's not a question of what you hope for, but who you hope in." These words on BBC Radio 4 recently challenged me. We all hope for things - whether for relief from pain or distress, a great holiday, or a home that is our own, and these are all legitimate. But hope for life beyond the grave is a huge ask. Nobody knows what waits for us there because no-one has come back to tell us.

But hang on a moment - somebody has! This Easter Day we celebrate the greatest day in history. Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins on the first Good Friday and then rose again from the dead on the following Sunday. More than 500 eye witnesses confirmed sightings of him with some them touching his body and others speaking with him. The early Christian church would never have grown to become the world's major religion if the resurrection was a fraud or a lie. The disciples would not have given their lives as martyrs in painful deaths if they knew they had stolen the body. All the Jewish leaders had to do was go to the guarded tomb and produce Christ's remains and the new faith would have been stopped in its tracks. They did not because they could not. Christ is risen!

Through the storms of major illness that have come my way over the last couple of decades I have had several moments very close to death. I even reviewed my own 'final arrangements' again last week as I prepared to undergo potentially dangerous (for me) cardiac procedures in hospital a few days ago. One day I will walk that valley right through, but I have a serious and sustaining hope. Since Jesus rose from the dead I shall also rise, because I believe in and am following Him. Jesus said; 'Because I live, you shall live also' (John 14:19).

In the words of the Old Testament writer of the Psalms "Put your hope in God". The message of this great resurrection day is that hope in Him will see you through this life's struggles and even into eternity. Christ is risen indeed!
 

Herald of Hope or Prophet of Doom?

Photo by Ian Taylor on Unsplash

"Discouragement is both dangerous and contagious. It is one of the devil’s most potent tools, because it mutes truth and muffles hope. Do you tend to be a prophet of doom? How might you be a herald of hope instead?" These words in my daily Bible reading notes⃰, got me thinking this morning. How much am I encouraging others? What proportion of my interaction with others, whether online or in person, gives someone else support, confidence, or hope? (This is the dictionary definition of 'encouragement').

These are tough times. With regard to the pandemic, the way ahead is not yet clear, though there are positive signs. It is not likely that we will see significant inroads into death tolls and hospital admissions with Covid-19 until well into the year, but hopefully by Easter. Whether that leads on to the restoration of 'normal life' is less likely in the short term. Travel and hospitality are bound to be impacted by the last 12 months, and large gatherings and social events are probably going to be treated with suspicion for some time to come.

But - better days are ahead! History teaches us that. The Spanish flu epidemic of 100 years ago did pass off after 18 months or so, and without a vaccine. The devastation caused by the two great wars of the 20th Century was overcome in Europe. The terrors of SARS and AIDS took a dreadful toll, but are now fading in the face of advances in medicine and lifestyle.

I happen to be married to one of life's great encouragers! For nearly 50 years Diane has brought laughter, warmth, hope and encouragement to me, through some of the darkest times imaginable. From being at my bedside in dingy, Dickensian hospital wards in London, to holding my hand through long periods of unconsciousness, this lady chose to be a 'herald of hope'. I salute her for that, and want to be like her. 

The greatest reason to encourage my own soul, and those of others, is the assurance that God is still in control of this universe and that He has a plan for its future. An old cliché rejoices that 'the future is as bright as the promises of God' and I believe it. God has an exciting plan for your life, and mine, and though it may involve passage through storms, the outcome is not in doubt. With Christ, better days are definitely ahead! 

⃰ https://content.scriptureunion.org.uk/wordlive/god-will-save-his-people 

Is there any hope?

 

I listened to an interview with the renowned artist Tracey Emin on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on the 3rd December. After having major cancer in 2020 and being told she would not see Christmas, Tracey is now recovering well following major surgery and treatment. She said, ‘I’m taking every day as it comes, I’m just so happy to be alive’. You could hear the joy and relief in her voice. Her surgical team call her ‘miracle woman’ because she was not expected to be alive to see Christmas. 

Tracey told us how that she is more balanced now, more cautious and feels like she has been forgiven and that a great curse has been lifted from her life. ‘If the choice was losing your bladder to survive and be happy – I chose to be happy’. She had a near-death experience, making her will and ordering her affairs, and then she was set free. ‘You prepare yourself and then receive a sudden reprieve. I will never ever take anything for granted again and I will do my best in every day, every moment. I’m on the cusp of something great’, she burbled joyfully. 

Hope has come to her. Hope is the Christmas message. I too came near to death, more than once, and survived. I made my will several times and wrote out my funeral plans etc. But that was not God’s plan for me, and I am grateful. I also feel that a great curse has been lifted off from my life, and despite my advancing years, I too can’t shake off the feeling that she describes that I’m on the cusp of something great! I see it happening in the church I serve. I have hope now, but it’s all because of Jesus and Christmas.

This pandemic has been awful. There’s a lot of darkness and despair around, but I take hope from hope, and from the message of Christmas. This is how Eddie Askew puts it in his book of prayers and poems called No Strange Land (p65):

I hope for hope, Lord.

The seeds of light sown in the darkness round your cross,

germinate, and flower and fruit

in the fallow fields of my small life.

My hope starts in your death and resurrection.

Continues in the certainty of your presence.

Fulfills itself in the clear calm confidence

of final victory.

For now, I cling to hope's small seedling.

A tsunami of kindness and a wave of hope? Where did that come from?

There is a strange stirring in my heart this Good Friday in the 2020 Corona lock-down. Beneath the sadness and frustration that we cannot be out in the sunshine there is a glimmer of something hopeful. A dawn of different thinking, maybe of new attitudes and actions too. What could this be?

• Hope? What for - the end of the pandemic? A vaccine? Not just those glorious things, though I feel sure that they will come. My hope is in God, his faithfulness, his promises, his unchanging grace. After all, it's Friday, but thank God Sunday's coming! Jesus who died rose again on the third day and is alive today. 
• Kindness? It is happening. I am seeing the green shoots of a tsunami of kindness. A million volunteers offering to brave the front-line of the virus to assist the NHS and care services around Britain. Doctors and nurses putting themselves in danger to save others - the spirit of Calvary in action - in some cases dying because of their service. Others unable to go home due to a vulnerable person in their household.
• Community? Crowds of people last evening in my road standing outside together (2 metres apart!) to applaud all who are serving on the front-line against this scourge. And as we exercise, isn't there a new sense of closeness to those we pass? Not so much averting their gaze now - more of a sense of 'we're all in this together'.  And after all the dreadful division of Brexit at last the political language has moderated. A new unity? Well, maybe that's a bit soon to say, but we do feel that we are striving against a common enemy, and not demonising others for their differing viewpoints.
• Faith? Come on - be honest. There is a small fire burning in hearts that have been cold and faith-dead or years. Of course the questions come - 'why?' 'where is God in all this?' - and that's right, but folk are feeling spiritually peckish again. There is food to be had. Our own church at Vazon Elim in Guernsey is seeing 5 times the number of people tuning in to our Livestream services than would normally be in the building. Worship and witness have taken to the airwaves and burst into new life!

So, on the Easter weekend, let's thank God for the seeds of hope, kindness, community and faith, and then water them with our prayers. As Her Majesty the Queen said; 'We will meet again'. May it be soon, Lord!

The Rattling of God's Bucket

I was passing by a field near our home in which a Guernsey farmer keeps his sheep. Sheep are not common in our island, where the Guernsey cow has pretty much dominated the fields and farms for so long, but this is one of the more remarkable flocks. The sheep are black and white speckled in colour and have long horns. some of those horns are twisted and give these guys and girls a somewhat hostile appearance.

I was surprised by their posture. Normally they are spread out across the meadow engaged in avid grass consumption. This time, they were stretched out in a line, all turned to look intently towards the farmer's house, situated about 500 metres away down the lane. They ignored me and everything around them as they clearly only had eyes for one thing - their shepherd - but he was nowhere in sight.

As I moved on and passed his home, Tony the farmer was walking out on his way to the field. In his hand he held a metal bucket containing animal feed. Either those sheep had heard the rattling of his bucket, or else they were aware of the time day that he normally came. Whatever, these sheep were looking intently for their shepherd to come.

Are you, as a Christian, looking for the coming again of the Good Shepherd? The Bible says we should be (Titus 2:13). And are we listening out for what God is preparing to do in our day? This is the rattling of God's bucket. It may be faint and distant, but if we are looking to God and listening for Him too, we should be positioning ourselves to be ready.

Do you hear that bucket rattle?

Happy New Year.

Is there any Hope? A Glimpse beyond the Grave.

"Hope is vital - it's not a question of what you hope for, but who you hope in." These words on BBC Radio 4 recently challenged me. We all hope for things - whether for relief from pain or distress, a great holiday, or a home that is our own, and these are all legitimate. But hope for life beyond the grave is a huge ask. Nobody knows what waits for us there because no-one has come back to tell us.

But hang on a moment - somebody has! This Easter Day we celebrate the greatest day in history. Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins on the first Good Friday and then rose again from the dead on the following Sunday. More than 500 eye witnesses confirmed sightings of him with some them touching his body and others speaking with him. The early Christian church would never have grown to become the world's major religion if the resurrection was a fraud or a lie. The disciples would not have given their lives as martyrs in painful deaths if they knew they had stolen the body. All the Jewish leaders had to do was go to the guarded tomb and produce Christ's remains and the new faith would have been stopped in its tracks. They did not because they could not. Christ is risen!

Through the storms of major illness that have come my way over the last couple of decades I have had several moments very close to death. I even reviewed my own 'final arrangements' again last week as I prepared to undergo potentially dangerous (for me) cardiac procedures in hospital a few days ago. One day I will walk that valley right through, but I have a serious and sustaining hope. Since Jesus rose from the dead I shall also rise, because I believe in and am following Him. Jesus said; 'Because I live, you shall live also' (John 14:19).

In the words of the Old Testament writer of the Psalms "Put your hope in God". The message of this great resurrection day is that hope in Him will see you through this life's struggles and even into eternity. Christ is risen indeed!

Hope not Despair for the Battles of Life

Despair really is the abandonment of hope. In my book Braving the Storm I write about the German Underground Hospital built in Guernsey during World War 2. It was, in its day, the largest man-made underground structure in Europe, but today is a ruin only barely available to tourists who want to recall the Occupation. It is dark, smelly and eerie, with definite ghoulish factors to give goosebumps even to people who enjoy Halloween. It came into its own during the period after D-Day in June 1944, when these islands were cut off from the nearby continent and wounded soldiers from the front were shipped here for surgery and care. Almost immediately it was found to be useless as a place of renewal and healing. This was largely because of its dark underground design, and the total absence of natural light and warmth. They might just as well have written over the entrance "abandon hope all ye who enter here"!

Healing really does need hope, and the Bible says that "hope deferred makes the heart sick". The temptation to despair is something familiar to those of us who have fought long battles with chronic ill health. There surely must be similar pressure to despair in marital conflict, redundancy, or abuse. Once we dig our own bunker to hide in and determine to abandon hope we are in danger of the very cynicism and bitterness of soul that has destroyed people much more clever than we are. Despair poisons our emotions and robs us of peace. It trickles down into our spirits like the lime-stained seepage that mars the walls of the Underground Hospital. Ultimately it dethrones God in our hearts and is a form of what I also call in my books "sweet rebellion". This is usually present in the lives of people who have despaired of their situation, future or church, but are still running on fumes and acting like good, sweet Christians. Only a change of heart will heal. Only a change of language and attitude will bring the longed-for hope. The Bible calls that kind of thing repentance.

When the Jewish King David was going through a particularly wounding patch in his often troubled life, he refused to dig a bunker and despair. He wrote the immortal words of Psalm 42 - "Why are you so downcast, O my soul? why are you so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God." (v5) If you are reading this because you are tempted to dig a hole and despair I just want to urge you to think again. While there is a God in heaven there will be hope on Earth available to all who come humbly and desperate to Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. His Spirit and his words of hope can lift us up from a horrible pit even worse than the Nazis left in Guernsey.

When Waiting is the Hardest thing to do.

Just about everything in the old prophet's life had let him down. 'Habakkuk' is a tough name to be landed with anyway (imagine how that would have gone down when you were at school!) but the passing of the years had not been kind to him. Surveying all his assets one morning and recognising the reality of his loss, he penned words that have given generations to follow a language to express their pain, their determination and hope.

 He wrote: "Though the fig-tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Saviour." (Hab. 3:17-18)

Habakkuk was a man waiting for better days - which he knew were coming because of the promises God had made him - but in this 'in-between time' he knew that he had to keep his spirit clear of resentment and find rest for his soul. Bitterness due to his loss would only be like eating his own skeleton and would leave him a shapeless jelly, unable to make good decisions or to cope with the pressure of the day. So he wandered up to the high place where he had created a space to stand before God and he cried - not in anger or regret, but in worship and surrender.

It's a funny day for me today. I am still waiting for the surgical team in Newcastle to make a decision as to whether they can help me or whether the massive surgery might be too dangerous for me.  All we seem to do these days is wait! But in the waiting I was so encouraged to read these verses in today's page in the reading notes Encounter by Scripture Union where Alison Lo looks at these very verses in Habakkuk and sums them up so brilliantly. "Amid the raging storm, the prophet has grown from restless doubt to deathless faith; from protesting anger to quiet contentment".

Lord - grant me that attitude today, that grace to sustain me in waiting, and that calm assurance in knowing, in the midst of the barrenness, that You are silently planning for me in love. Amen

When I read these words on New Year's Day, I wept.

Early on New Year’s Day I was looking through my favourite version of the Bible for inspiration after a difficult Christmas period. I had been up to A & E over the special season, including on Christmas Day itself, and in touch with my GP twice in the space of four days or so. I endured the usual diet of overwhelming pain, fever, the rigors, extreme nausea – all the signs of a classic flare-up of my old enemy chronic pancreatitis. I say “old” because it was Christmas 1995 when I was admitted to hospital in Cardiff for the first of what would become over 100 such admissions in the last two decades.  Twenty years of frustration, struggle, and the loss of my ministry due to no fault of my own. It’s starting to get to me as you might well imagine.

And then I came across this promise of hope. God, speaking to His people Israel in the Old Testament, promised them that “I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten” (Joel 2:25). Wow, that really hit home to my discouraged heart. Years ago, when we lived and worked in Africa, we were hit by a small locust swarm one evening. With the sound of an approaching express train it descended on a large bush in our garden and stripped the lot in seconds. When it lifted, like a swarm of hornets into the air, what had been a large and fruitful shrub was left a desolate collection of bare branches.

Maybe you have faced the hordes of locusts too. Whatever length of time has gone by, you probably can’t forget the sense of grief and loss you feel at opportunities denied you, relationships gone sour, loved ones taken away in their prime. The ‘not fairness’ of life takes its toll on us all, whatever the cause of the pain.

God knows our distress and hears our cry, even in the dark of the night. The Bible says in typically pictorial language that He keeps all our tears in His bottle. He must need a tanker for mine! I don’t know if the locust swarm will leave me in 2016 though I sincerely hope it does – but if not, this promise of God keeps me going as I start a third decade. “I will restore to you [place your name here] the years that the locusts have eaten”!

I don’t know how, or when, but I do know who will achieve this, and I’m holding on to Him for dear life!

Happy New Year!

Living Hope

Near our home in Guernsey is a concrete disaster. Not one of those monstrous office buildings erected in postmodern style all glass and girders, but an underground hospital left over from the Second World War. Built, or rather excavated, by the German occupying forces, it was in its day the largest underground concrete structure in Europe.  This subterranean hospital briefly received wounded troops from nearby France after D-Day until the Allied advance liberated Normandy and cut off these islands until the end of the war. I shall never forget my first visit to the eerie structure as a child because it caused me to shrink in sadness at the thought of anybody being taken down there already unwell or badly hurt.  It never really worked as a hospital because it robbed its patients of something that is so badly needed in recovery - sunshine. They might as well have inscribed over the entrance the famous words from Dante's vision of hell 'Abandon Hope all who Enter Here!'

Hope is vital to recovery - and I don't mean just the vague feeling that things might improve either.  Christian hope is based on the character of God and his great love for us. It works like sunshine on our life systems and gives us something to hold on to in the darkest times. This kind of hope is the confident assurance that God is good and that he has good things planned for those who love him.  But the abandonment of hope is the opposite of that and is called despair. Several young people visited Guernsey over this weekend who know what real despair is like.  They have known the degrading power of drug and alcohol addiction in their lives that has led in similar cases to prostitution, imprisonment and premature death.  Now following their rehabilitation through one of the UK's Teen Challenge centres they sing together in a remarkable girls' band called Living Hope and tour prisons, churches and schools telling their own stories of hope restored. We are so privileged to have received them in our home island and heard their amazing stories of God's hope - a living hope that changed their lives!

"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)

Making a New Start!

I love New Year! It's a great opportunity every year to draw a line under all that is past and start again. For me, 2013 has been a very difficult year marked by pain, the loss of dear friends, disappointment in others, family sadness at watching our only grandchild struggle her way through the challenging early months of her life, and the uphill task of trying to walk the journey of faith in a hostile culture. Yet, New Year brings with it a burst of hope, optimism and cheer that heartens me greatly and causes me to thank God that he is the God who describes himself with the words 'behold I am making all things new!'.

Far more significant than the date on the calendar, though, is the assurance within that God is still in charge - not man, not the doctors, nor the politicians and thankfully not me! He has not vacated the throne of the universe as so many want us to believe, but instead is working out his sovereign purposes for his glory and our eternal good. Romans 8:28 is still in my bible - "and we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (ESV)

During the Christmas period I have been encouraged by the writing of Ian Coffey whom I look forward to welcoming to Guernsey and to Eldad Church in January.  In his book Shock and Awe (BRF, Abingdon, 2009) he quotes a prayer for today: "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose years never fail and whose mercies are new each returning day: let the radiance of your Spirit renew our lives, warming our hearts and giving light to our minds: that we may pass the coming year in joyful obedience and firm faith; through him who is the beginning and the end, your Son Christ our Lord. Amen"

A New Start

Coastal View of Guernsey

At the start of this new year I am so grateful to God for the year that has just ended and really looking forward with hope too. After 15 years of dreadful pain and repeated hospital admissions, with horrible experiences of life-threatening situations and disappointments too numerous to mention, it is such a relief to say that things are better now.  This time last year I started full-time work again after over 4 years of being unable to function and the time since then has been full of joy and challenges. We have been given a new start and a new opportunity after so many years of struggle. I am thankful for the love of family and friends and the prayers of so many.  Life has certainly taken on a new dimension for me, in that every day seems so precious and each moment a gift from heaven.

I do feel very keenly for those who still struggle with the kind of pain and difficulties I have known and much worse besides.  'Survivor guilt' is a phrase you might have heard and it describes the feelings of those who have come through dreadful circumstances where others have not and it can be a part of what is now known as post-traumatic stress syndrome.  Well, maybe I don't go that far, but I do feel a deep sense of compassion for my fellow travelers on the pathway of pain and hope that my books and preaching may in some small way contribute to helping them.

May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in him; and may you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).  Happy New Year!

Sunsets and Phoney Baloney!

Sunset over Port Soif in Guernsey can be a magnificent affair.  It often comes at the end of a great day of sunshine and blue skies, but is more often the finale to a period of moody weather or even a storm.  If 'Braving the Storm' is your motto, you will, like me, regard the sunset as compensation after a tough day, and the promise of another go tomorrow.  That's a great help when we face storms - just the knowledge that tomorrow is another day, and the very worst of weather will 'come to pass', likely to be replaced by something different, if not better.

It came home to me today how long it has been since my last blog.  I felt sad that I have lost touch with you, and stirred to do something about it.  Part of the reason for the long silence is that I have been going through a particularly bad storm.  Despite the great thrill and joy of being able to preach again in November after a year out of the pulpit, the battle has raged around me, and the illness I fight has waxed and waned in its perfidious strategy designed to destroy me. (That's no exageration; take a peek at 1 Peter 5:8-9). I have made a commitment to myself and to you that I will only be honest in my blogs.  No sugarry cover-ups, no religious make believe, no phoney baloney!! But then - there is only so much you can say about pain, tears, weakness, loneliness and sorrow - without boring the socks off those who read or listen.  So, here are some positive things that are going on despite the storm:

1. God is wonderfully providing all our needs.  We have not been on a salary since July 2008 and we have wanted for nothing!
2. We have met some really great people and are learning from how God is working in their lives.
3. So many people tell us that they pray for us every day - now that is amazing!
4. I have been kept alive through 3 major operations in the last year and several potentially dangerous attacks of acute pancreatitis.
5. Every day God's Word has spoken to us and is a lamp to our feet and a light to our darkened path.
6. Several trips to London for Diane and I have been covered by generous giving and practical love and support from others.
7. The sun sets daily as a reminder that God is faithful and has granted us another day.

'I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed. I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—the feeling of hitting the bottom. But there’s one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: GOD’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness!  I’m sticking with GOD (I say it over and over). He’s all I’ve got left.' (Lam. 3:19-24 The Message).