Standing Strong

The virus attack was relentless. The culture was fraying. Relationships, once civil, were stressed to the breaking point. And echoes of the mantra that somehow we were "all in this together" grew more faint by the day. Yet just under the surface there pulsed a heartbeat of hope. It whispered through the scriptures, and gently demanded to be heard.

And in Paul's magnificent letter to the Ephesian church, the words rose with a reassuring, redeeming love that could reach into broken places to lift and transform needing hearts.

Here was the guidance of a divine determination that refused to give up on us -- offering a way of living that could heal old wounds, reconcile painful separations, and face down life's destructive forces with spiritual courage and strength.

These short focused reflections immerse readers in seven life-lifting themes that are as ancient as the love of God, and as contemporary as the news of the day.