Finding Hope: Cultivating God's Gift of a Hopeful Spirit

by Marcia Ford, Andrea Cath Jaeger OP (Foreword by)

Overview

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 …

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594732119
Publisher:	Turner Publishing Company
Publication date:	11/01/2006
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	3.15(w) x 3.15(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

Marcia Ford is a former editor of Christian Retailing magazine, an Explorefaith.org columnist and frequent contributor to Publishers Weekly. The author of eighteen books, including The Sacred Art of Forgiveness: Forgiving Ourselves and Others through God's Grace (SkyLight Paths); Memoir of a Misfit and Traditions of the Ancients, she was the religion editor of The Asbury Park Press for ten years. She is also a former editor with Charisma and Ministries Today magazines and the ibelieve.com website. Her other books include Meditations for Misfits; 101 Most Powerful Promises of the Bible and Restless Pilgrim: The Spiritual Journey of Bob Dylan (with Scott Marshall).

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.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Beginning With Hope

1. Hope Under Fire
2. Dealing with Disappointment
3. It's Not Wishful Thinking
4. Postmodern Vision
5. Impossible Situations
6. Recovering from Loss
7. Hope Amid Suffering
8. Just How Hopeless Do You Feel?
9. Overcoming Hopelessness
10. Real and Imagined Threats
11. Hope Dies Last
12. Holding On to Hope
13. The Heart of Healing
14. The Unreturned Prodigal
15. Cultivating a Hopeful Spirit
16. Going to Hell in a Handbasket
17. The Hope of Depression
18. The God Who Loves Us
19. Drama 101
20. The Persecuted Faithful
21. Passing It On
22. Freedom’s Fascinating Power
23. The Worst That Could Happen
24. A Better Life to Come

Ending with Hope
Acknowledgments
Credits
Notes
Suggestions For Further Reading

Editorial Reviews

Finding Hope: Cultivating God's Gift of a Hopeful Spirit, Marcia Ford. A practical guide that gives people of all faiths the inspiration they need to live a more fulfilling, hopeful life. $16.99 QP, 1594732116. Available October.

New Age Retailer

In a time when cynicism seems to reign, a book about finding hope is refreshing. Ford, a religion writer (The Sacred Art of Forgiveness), PW freelancer, and hospice worker, has hope to spare. Writing in the midst of a chronic illness and the aftermath of an electrical fire that damaged her home, Ford manages to communicate the essence of hope with intelligence, humor and grace. Her premise is that "when your ultimate hope is in God, your underlying philosophy of hope is based on the unshakeable belief that no matter what happens, God will see you through it." She illustrates this with stories from her own life, popular culture, history and the Bible. At the end of each chapter, Ford offers short questions to ponder along with simple practices to restore hope. She suggests some typical things, like journaling, meditating and decluttering, but also ventures into unusual recommendations, like blogging. Ford's gift is not only her accessible writing style, but also her life experience as a Christian. She has obviously spent time with different facets of Christianity and possesses an understanding of other spiritual paths. What results is an inspiring, broad-based look at sound theological, spiritual and practical principles to cultivate hope. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly