Hope-Full Living

Various Authors

Listen to Hope-Full Living! Hope-Full Living is a daily devotion written by seniors, for seniors. The devotion is released quarterly, and now is available to listen to as a Podcast. Listen anywhere today!

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Today · 1 min
The Main Thing
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther made public his 95 Theses. In doing so, he stated that the main thing we need for the assurance of God’s forgiveness is not living a good life or performing good works — but trusting in God alone. Luther insisted that we are, as the apostle Paul writes, saved only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It gradually dawned on Luther that he was free. And he was loved. Luther rediscovered what had always been there in the Scriptures. Read the clear, powerful words of Romans 3 and celebrate the Good News that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in His Son, our Savior.
Yesterday · 1 min
Don't Dry Your Hair!
Fresh out of the shower with my hair in a towel, I started my Bible study when an HVAC truck pulled up at my house. Since I was in my robe, I grabbed the house phone, called the company, and explained they were at the wrong house. The representative said, “Yes, they’re at the wrong house, but they discovered a gas leak at your house. Call the gas company, and whatever you do, don’t dry your hair, don’t use your cell phone, don’t do anything that might cause a spark, or you could blow yourself up.” Why didn’t I dry my hair first like I always do? Why did the HVAC guys go to the wrong house? God at work! I carry that faulty gas cap with me everywhere as a testimony and reminder of how God saved my life.
Friday · 1 min
Memory Stones
Every time I visit my neighbor, I pass stacked stones next to her door. This cairn, seen by her children and now grandchildren, witnesses to specific God-sightings from their family history. It serves the same purpose as the stones God commanded Israel to set up after crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land. Jacob and Samuel also set up stones as ways to remember what God had done. I decided to make my own memory cairn — but drawn on paper. Each stone bears a phrase recalling a specific event where God did something remarkable. At present, 76 stones are labeled. The latest one says, “six God-sightings at O’Hare.” A few months before my husband’s emergency brain surgery, he made uncharacteristic mistakes at the airport. Six times God sent a person to set us back on track. Incredible, God — Incredible-God. And I deliberately remember.
Thursday · 1 min
Like an Angel in Disguise
My husband was undergoing rehab at a facility, and that day wearied me. Finally, I was leaving, my purse and one bag over one shoulder and another bag in my hand. I dreaded having to set down everything at the main entrance to call the night nurse to let me out. At the other end of the empty hallway, someone was coming toward me. It was someone I knew from our church! She might as well have been an angel. Everything felt lighter when she said she could let me out. Chance? Coincidence? The Holy Spirit? All the above? Jesus said He would send the Helper (John 14:16); Paul affirms that the Lord would rescue us (2 Timothy 4:18). I could find pages of Scripture to confirm these promises, but that night was an affirmation. God keeps His promises.
Wednesday · 1 min
Who's Your Provider?
The day my husband, David, lost his job was one of the scariest days of his life. How would he provide for his wife and his two little girls? He was our primary wage-earner. A new job didn’t come quickly. David took on manual labor and temp work. He even dug graves for a friend in the funeral business. Gift cards appeared in our mailbox and groceries on our front steps. We worked hard, prayed, and hoped God would keep His promise to take care of us. Two long months later, David landed a job that fully met our family’s needs. As we pored over our checkbook and our bills, we realized that nothing had gone unpaid. David often shares the spiritual lesson he learned through that frightening time: “My job is not my provider. God is. I can trust Him.”
Tuesday · 1 min
Rock of Ages
It all started while climbing a ladder to clear debris from my gutter. It felt like when you bend over and quickly stand up. Except I hadn’t bent over. After a battery of tests, my neurologist said, “There’s nothing wrong with you physically. You’re just getting old. No more ladders for you.” This was hard to hear. I started to wonder if God could still use me now that age had become a factor. That night, I sought comfort by reading about Abram (99 years old) and Sarai (89 years old) becoming Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 17). Age is not a limitation in God’s plan. So, be of good cheer. When serving the Rock of Ages, you may not be climbing ladders, but you can help carry them for others.
Monday · 1 min
Promises Kept
I watched my granddaughter play volleyball, unaware that my husband, coaching a team in a different state, was collapsing from a heart attack. I didn’t know — but God did. God knew what my husband needed to survive. God had placed four health professionals there, watching their daughters near the court where my husband’s team was playing. By the time I knew my husband needed God’s intervention to live, He had already answered the prayer I hadn’t yet prayed. Before I called on God for help, He answered me. He calmed my heart as I heard the news. I trusted His plan in this emergency because I knew that Jesus is always with me and those I love, no matter what disaster comes our way.
October 18 · 1 min
Some Assembly Required
In 2020, COVID-19 changed the way we do church. Many congregations began to livestream services on the internet. After the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, the advantages of this technology remained: shut-ins could “attend” services, travelers logged in, and unchurched neighbors could see what church was about. Able-bodied members discovered it was more convenient to worship in pajamas at home. But watching church is not the same as going to church. Church is God’s redeemed people, participating together in worship. The inspired writer of Hebrews reminds us not to neglect meeting together. In this assembly, we encourage one another and hold each other accountable. We pray and serve together. There is hugging; there is spiritual growth. You can listen to an online sermon alone, but you cannot be the church alone. We are the church together.
October 17 · 1 min
Loved by God
We are loved by God, not because we chose to be loved and certainly not because we deserve this love. It is simply because He loves us. When I fell in love with my beautiful wife and asked her to marry me, she said, “Yes,” and, in effect, chose me. God assures us that He loves us because He chose us before we were born, before we had done anything worthy or unworthy of love. Certainly, if we had to do something to deserve that love, we would quickly be cut off from God and lose His love. That is why it is so reassuring to know that God’s love for us begins with His choosing us to be His own. We are loved by God because of His choice. Live knowing that God chooses to love you no matter what.
October 16 · 1 min
A Package Deal
Read Psalm 22 and THEN read Psalm 23, and you will feel the hope that comes from reading on! These psalms appear in this sequence in the original Hebrew manuscript. First, Psalm 22 recounts our salvation that Jesus completed on Calvary’s cross, and then Psalm 23 gives a serene confirmation of God’s promises for the present. Isn’t our God orderly to follow Psalm 22 with Psalm 23? It’s a package deal! Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb in Psalm 22, and we are His little lambs in Psalm 23. You are a package deal with your Savior. When someone might flippantly say, “I feel so far away from God right now,” I imagine God responding, “Who moved?” Because God is omniscient and because God is omnipresent, if we feel far away from Him, we can return to where He promises to meet us: His Word and His Sacrament.
October 15 · 2 min
Sticks and Stones
Sticks and stones are usually not thought of as good or valuable. It wasn’t my birthday. It wasn’t Christmas. But my then 5-year-old grandson, Lukas, brought me a gift. It was simple, not of great worth. It was just a quart Mason jar that contained sticks and stones that he had collected. On it, Lukas taped a little drawing of a tree, a shining sun, and a man standing in a garden. Lukas knew his grandpa well. He knew I was a nature lover and an admirer of God’s gifts of creation. So, he enthusiastically presented me with a token of his love — just a glass jar of sticks and stones. But for the last eight years, that simple gift sits next to my bed as a reminder of the wisdom, faith, and grace of a little child reflecting God’s love. Lukas knew his grandpa. Jesus knows this grandpa as well. He knows my needs. And so, I daily look at that jar and quietly sing, “I am Jesus’ little lamb, Ever glad at heart I am” (“I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb” LSB #740).
October 14 · 1 min
Puzzlemaster
My husband and I spent many hours sitting side by side assembling jigsaw puzzles. Our marriage of nearly 54 years was a huge puzzle that was sometimes fun and sometimes frustrating to work out. Now that I’m a widow, I’m starting on a new life puzzle. Though widowhood is not new under the sun, this is the first time I’ve been a widow. God’s Word reminds me that I’m not alone in assembling my new life. He is at my side and has equipped others to help me, to love me, and to teach me. Though I’ve not assembled this puzzle before, God sees the whole picture, each piece in its proper place. He’ll see that it’s well done when the final piece is put in place.
October 13 · 2 min
Unfailing
As children, my brother Dan and I delivered newspapers. Periodically, we could buy Mom a sweet treat at the drug store. Dad and Mom provided love, shelter, and food daily. They believed that God enabled and expected them to do that. Lamentations seems like an ironic title in the Bible because in the book, Jeremiah points out God’s unfailing mercy. Through challenges, despite sinful choices, toward needs of all kinds — God has been faithful, unfailing. This is a festive quarter of the calendar year. We celebrate Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas Eve and Day, and even my October birthday. We may celebrate God’s work on certain days, but His loving mercies are a 24/7, 365-day operation. That humbles me. It seems like I give only an occasional “candy bar” to God. God’s steadfastness in our past assures us of His faithfulness in the future. That guarantees us the opportunity to think of and thank God for His mercies more often.
October 12 · 1 min
Look Back With Love
How often do we hear that it is better not to dwell on the past? You know, don’t look back — yesterday is gone. Well, that depends on how we look back. Whether we focus on the past, present, or future, let us do so in our Lord’s loving company. As you read the Bible each day, immerse yourself in the Scripture. Meditate and imagine being at that moment in time. Then explore the graces — the “mighty deeds,” or in another translation, “the wonders of old” — that you discover. The Lord gives us His loving graces for today and days to come. Looking back at God’s goodness, made manifest in Jesus Christ, helps us every day of our lives. Reflect on God’s love and all that He has done for us. We truly have reason to be grateful for the past, present, and future.
October 11 · 1 min
The Cookie Jar
As I think back, I admit I am a little confused about whether my childhood cookie jar featured “Little Red Riding Hood” or “Porky Pig.” I do remember that it was usually filled with one of my favorite cookies. With six children in the family, you always wanted to make sure you weren’t the last one to open the top and find the jar empty. Thank God, He provides us with spiritual food in His Word and in His Sacrament! He invites us to reach into His Word daily, to be fed and nourished with promises of His forgiveness, grace, and mercy! His Son, our Savior, fasted in the wilderness to win the battle over temptation and the devil. Before His death on the cross, Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, which feeds us with His body and blood for the strengthening of our faith. Filled with the assurance of His presence, the cookie jar of His grace will never be empty.
October 10 · 1 min
A Renewed Spirit
As my husband lay in a hospital bed from an unknown condition, the uncertainty of his future overwhelmed me. Realizing that sometimes the unknown can cripple one’s spirit more than the known, I asked myself, “Where can one find hope during difficult times?” Within minutes, a local pastor entered Tom’s hospital room and offered the words of Psalm 91. The words he read calmed my anxious mind: “I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.” My spirit renewed, and my heart was revived. When unknown concerns seem to tighten like knots in our stomachs, God’s Word reminds us whose we are and lifts us up. My husband’s condition did not change that day, but through the Word, my spirit gained the hope I needed and enabled me to trust in His love for me.
October 9 · 1 min
God Is Good
Life is full of ups and downs that include joyful moments and painful struggles. Yet through everything, one truth remains unshakeable — God is good. His grace and mercy surround us daily, even when we cannot see it or feel it. God’s goodness is not based on our circumstances because it is rooted in His unchanging character. He is always working for our good because He is generous and full of mercy. The goodness of God far surpasses anything that the world has to offer. The wonderful thing about His goodness is that He wants to demonstrate it through us to others. The goodness of God is beyond our comprehension. Thank God for His divine mercy. Thank God for His ultimate generosity. Thank God that He sent Jesus to be our Redeemer through His death and resurrection.
October 8 · 1 min
Safe With Jesus
A psychologist on the “Today” show mentioned that the root of anxiety is not feeling safe. I’m not sure if I agree, but it made me think. Have you ever felt the pins and needles of anxiety? I have quite a history of dealing with it. Like Paul’s thorn in the flesh, anxiety can be a thorn in my flesh that reminds me to run to Jesus and feel the safety of His love (2 Corinthians 12:7). Jesus has quite a history of providing His constant presence and healing touch. We can trust Jesus who calms seas, heals blindness, casts out evil spirits, and always has the time to be near. He really does provide a peace unlike anything in this world (John 16:33). On sleepless nights, we can pray or listen to favorite hymns. Have you heard Michael O’Brien’s song, “Safe in the Arms of Jesus”?
October 7 · 1 min
God's Gift of Reading
My parents read to me and regularly took me to the library. I read in bed, on the sofa, and in our treehouse. What a blessing to fall in love with books. When I became a Christian as a teenager, God kindled a desire in me to read the Bible. Later, I shared my love of reading and God’s Word with our children and now our grandchildren. Countless students in my classes benefited when I shared the wonder of books with them. I still enjoy reading — and now writing — devotions. God began preparing me to love reading in childhood so that I could share His truth with family, students, and others. Throughout our lives, God teaches us and guides us to honor Him and bless others. Now, in my senior years, I trust His promise to continue teaching me in the way I should go.
October 6 · 2 min
Don't Leave the Nest Yet!
Do the words of Deuteronomy 6 apply to grandparents as well as parents? I hope so. I want to share the message from Moses before our five grands leave the nest. In these Old Testament verses, Moses is speaking to a new generation. The time is before the Israelites enter the Promised Land. Many of the now-adults in his audience were infants when God’s people started this lengthy journey out of Egypt. That was nearly 40 years earlier. Now, those “babies” are adults. And like us at the beginning of our life journey, Moses, too, was younger; now, he’s 120 years old. As we so often remind our children and our children’s children, “Don’t repeat past mistakes.” That’s the message from the past. And like Moses, we repeat the critical message for the future: love God, listen to Him, and obey Him. That’s a message that matters.

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