“God has not left you twisting in the wind, nor is He playing hide-and-seek,” Townsend says. “He wants to be present with you and powerful for you in your circumstances. He may bring a miracle. He may create a new path. And He may walk with you through a loss. But however your hard time plays out, He is here. He is for you and with you, no matter your struggle.”
Townsend offers stories, real-life examples and practical applications to help readers renew their courage, faith and hope. Following is an excerpt from Where Is God? (Click here to purchase this book.)
A Hope More Than Wishing
You and I need hope in God. Hope is one of the most powerful agents we have available to us in times like these. It can be simply defined as the anticipation of a future good that we do not now experience. Hope helps us hold on and not give in to despair, even if we don’t see the positive evidence we desire to see.
Hope motivates, inspires and focuses us in our work and efforts. Hope keeps a parent consulting with doctor after doctor, searching for the specialist who can help her child. Hope moves a businessman to make phone call after phone call, to network exhaustively to find a new position after a layoff. Hope influences a single person to stay in circulation, even after relationship disappointments and heartbreak. Hope motivates a person who has lost his mate to continue his daily routine and his close friendships. The value of hope can’t be overestimated. With hope, we endure the now in anticipation of a better future. My desire in writing this book is that if you come away with only one thing from reading it, it would be an increased sense of hope. There are few insurmountable obstacles for people who have a deep hope that is real and substantive. In that sense, the answers to the where-is-God question are designed ultimately to provide hope.
