Discover the freedom and joy that come when
you open your heart to Hope
This practical guide gives you the
inspiration, encouragement and practices you need to cultivate
a hopeful spirit and thus live a more fulfilling and joyful
life. Writing from personal experience and her broad knowledge
of many faith traditions, Marcia Ford helps you
recognize—or develop—your own personal images of
hope and create a place where you can go to see the many
evidences of hope in your life any time despair seeps in. She
provides important learning tools that you can apply to
everyday life experiences, inspiring personal stories of hope
from the famous and not-so-famous and realistic exercises for
creating the overall balance and peace you look to achieve in
living your life connected to God. Drawing from Christian and
Hebrew scripture and the wisdom of spiritual teachers from all
traditions, Ford helps you realize that we all can receive a
gift of hope and grace from the Divine—we just need to be
open to accept it.
Topics include:
• Dealing with
Disappointment
• It’s Not
Wishful Thinking
• Impossible Situations
• Recovering from Loss
• Hope amid Suffering
• Overcoming
Hopelessness
• Real and Imagined
Threats
• The Heart of Healing
• Cultivating a Hopeful
Spirit
• Freedom’s
Fascinating Power
• And more …
Praise for Marcia Ford’s Work
“Poignantly and beautifully written,
your spirits will soar as you rediscover the power of
hope—in your life and in the lives of those you love.
Breaks new ground in understanding the theological and
psychological aspects of hope. Highly recommended.”
—Robert
L. Veninga, author, A Gift of Hope: How We Survive Our Tragedies
“Even the most discouraged, troubled
and hopeless of us can find a sweet consolation that is as
credible as a sunrise and as steady as the hand of God….
Guides us through the land of troubling thoughts and parched
emotions, brings us safely out into the meadow of a hopeful
spirit.”
—Phyllis
Tickle, compiler, The Divine Hours
“Marcia Ford is one of those rare
writers who can make you laugh about a subject that can make
you cry. After reading this book you may never view
hope—and even its troubling antithesis, despair—the
same way again.”
—A. J.
Kiesling, author, Jaded: Hope for Believers Who Have Given Up on
Church But Not on God
“A lovely book that reaches deep
into the well of hope, longing for life’s
beauty.”
—Karyn D.
Kedar, author, The Bridge to Forgiveness: Stories and Prayers for
Finding God and Restoring Wholeness
“Outlines the practical steps for
getting us back in tune with this extraordinarily powerful
force in our lives. In the end, Ford finds in hope a kind of
‘unified theory’ for our entire relationship to God
and our fellow human beings.”
—John
Tintera, book editor, Explorefaith.org
“Reminds us of why nothing can take
away the one sure hope we have: our faith in God, and
[God’s] unfailing love for us. In a seemingly hopeless
world—full of violence, war and unmitigated
suffering—we desperately need this book.”
—Cindy
Crosby, author, By Willoway Brook: Exploring the Landscape of Prayer; editor, Ancient
Christian Devotional
Sister Andrea Cath Jaeger, op, a former professional tennis player who ranked
second in the world at age sixteen, is cofounder of Little Star
Foundation, a children’s non-profit organization that
helps children with cancer and other diseases, and abused and
at risk children. She is author of First
Service: Following God’s Calling and Finding Life’s
Purpose.
