The garden of hope is blooming

Get Your Hopes Up! Expect Something Good to Happen Every Day

by Joyce Meyer

(Hodder & Stoughton, £13.99)

Barbara Pierce

“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings of Eagles.”
This is how Joyce Meyer, the author of over a hundred books and one of the world’s leading practical Bible teachers, introduces her subject.

She is urging us to ‘Get Our Hopes Up’ because God wants us to raise our expectations and aim to have the best possible life.

In very enthusiastic and optimistic language she persuades us that if we put our hope in the Lord we can change ourselves and our lives.

No matter how dark our days may seem, there is no storm big enough to stop God from rescuing you. Using many quotations from the scriptures, she outlines strategies which will make us raise our expectations by searching to find God’s plan for our life and following his lead.

Such chapter titles as ‘Eliminating every Can’t’, ‘Look For the Good in Everything’ and ‘Be the Answer to Someone’s Prayer’ explain how we can change our way of being becoming full of hope ourselves and sharing hope with those we encounter in our daily lives.

The words and ideas are very encouraging and very accessible, with the main points of each paragraph summarised and illustrated by an example.

“If we live in the Garden of Hope,” the author writes, “something is always blooming. Look for it.”