Hope In Stuart And Shelby's 'Hope Window'

Everyone here at Northwestern, even though it is a Christian college, has a different view of faith. Some people put it above all and others only know the stories. In the novel Ordinary Grace, Krueger throws challenges at the Drum family. Each family member reacts differently to every challenge thrown at them and has their faith strengthened or destroyed. In William Krueger’s Ordinary Grace, he shows the different levels of faith from the strongest to the weakest, and how they react to different obstacles in life through Nathan, Frank, Jake, and Ruth.

downtrodden, Bradstreet praises God. Bradstreet believes that God is helping her realize the value of

A Grace Disguised written by Jerry Sittser, is one of the most heart felt and transparent books I have ever read. The idea that our purpose and who we are is shaped through our suffering and loss, puts one in perspective to understand that our pain lies a blessing, even at times we don't understand. Jerry Sittser, a husband, son, and father of four is a true witness to what its like to experience loss and even feel hopelessness in times of despair. In the fall of 1991, him and his families lives were changed forever. Driving back home from a Native American reservation in rural Idaho, an incoming car driving extremely reckless and fast, jumped its lane and smashed head-on into their families mini-van. Rescuing his daughter Catherine and two sons David and John, Jerry Sittser had to endure seeing the lives of his wife Lynda, mother Grace, and four year old daughter Diane flash before his eyes (Sittser, 1998 pg. 26). Three generations instantly gone without any signs or warnings. Letters of comfort that was sent by mail frequently asked Jerry the question, “Why did this have to happen to your family? Y'all were the ideal family to model. If bad things can happen to good people like the Sittser’s then we’re all in trouble (Sittser, 1998 pg. 30).” In this book Jerry Sittser highlights many different aspects of how to differentiate our view of loss from both a carnal and spiritual perspective. Yes, its no debate that loss is a terrifying and dreadful event to experience, but

Ann Byle analyzes and describes the memoir written by Danny Gokey, Hope in Front of Me: Find Purpose in Your Darkest Moments, about the difficulties Gokey faced with his hope and will to live after losing his wife, Sophia, in 2007. ¨Gokey writes about the hopelessness [h]e felt when he lost Sophia, his depression, and how close he came to ending his life.¨ (Byle 1). Thereafter, facing the devastation of losing his wife, he found comfort in God. Danny found meaning in his life once again after starting Sophia’s Heart Foundation, a foundation that focuses on providing relief for the homeless in the Nashville area. The organization has provided shelter and basic supplies for people who have fallen into hard times since 2008. Gokey has found joy and rediscovered himself after facing the misery and grief of losing his wife in helping others who are struggling, as he once

In his sermon, John Winthrop used the metaphor “a city on a hill” to provide a goal in which the Puritans should aspire. The metaphor embrace an image to allowed the Puritans to understand how John Winthrop viewed Christian and one should act. He said that in order to received posterity from the Lord, one must follow “the counsel of Micah to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God…must be knit together.. as one man” (Winthrop, pg 12). John Winthrop had three reasons why he believed that God wanted everyone to appreciate one another as if they shared the same soul but have different positions in life.

Life can be hard at times, but a young boy shows the opposite of that. This can be seen in the short story “Fly Away Home” by Eve Bunting. Andrew and his dad show that there still is hope in all the bad things that happen to them. It is important to realize that they show these things by showing thoughtfulness, helpfulness, and sadness.

"They told me: ‘We’re no longer treating her to cure her.’ In the beginning, they were so optimistic. They were telling me about all these options and all this stuff they were going to do. And now they were telling me to give up. And I’m looking at Grace. And she looks OK. She looks strong. She doesn’t look like the girl that I’m reading about in these medical charts. But they’re telling me to give up on her," said Grace's

In the original short film, the role of religion is seen in a positive light and the father remains at the center of the ordeal, as the camera follows him and allows the audience to observe his actions and beliefs firsthand, with the sickly boy acting secondary to the father. Although the audience witnesses the suffering of the father, the suffering of the little boy goes relatively unnoticed. However, by allowing the young boy’s true suffering to become the center and depicting it as larger than that of the father’s, Hayes allows the audience to understand that in the darkest of moments, religion or prayer will not end your anguish. This belief becomes further evident in the line “I am waiting/To be rearranged by the hand of God, which is not the hand/Of God, but the strip of cloth pressed against my brow…” (Hayes 57). This perspective also emphasizes the loneliness experienced by being abandoned by God, as the boy lays in a shack alone with no one, not even the dog that was present in the original film was there to comfort the little boy in the Hayes poem. The sarcastic tone of the line also suggests the boy has already given up his hope that prayer will solve his illness and has begun to look his predicament as bleak and unending, almost as if he has been abandoned. The sarcastic tone that again bolsters this perspective is seen in the quote, “By my father who has no medicine but prayer”. The little boy states, “I don’t know what I did to get here mumbling/”Pappy” and calling out to the ghost of my mother”, demonstrating the confusion of the little boy as he begins to realize that he has become abandoned and casts a dark attitude towards religion, contradictory to the original film’s purpose. Additionally, the suffering depicted in the boy’s situation can also be synonymous with the current problems faced by African Americans in

It all started in 1986 in the small city of Fort Dodge, IA. Mark Block, now a 49 year young man, and a former track and cross country standout. He was driving his car when all of a sudden an accident occurred and he lost control and went off into an embankment and brutally flipped his car. It was a near-fatal car accident that should've killed him if it wasn’t for the grace of God. God wasn’t ready for him to pass and had a plan for him, a plan that would not just change the course of his life but in the process help others along the way.

Seventeen-year-old Andrea Sierra Salazar is a cancer survivor. She had developed a lump on her neck, and her mother took her to the doctor. Andrea's lump turned out to be malignant. The doctors also found a tumor in Andrea's chest. She was diagnosed with stage two lymphoma. The treatments were grueling. Andrea had to miss a lot of school because of her treatments.

American Cancer Society (2014) states that osteosarcoma is a rare cancer that starts primarily in the bone. According to the American Cancer Society (2014), annually, about 800 people are newly diagnosed with osteosarcoma in the United States of America. Among the newly diagnosed cases, 400 are children and teenagers. Osteosarcoma is usually observed in children, adolescents and adults ages 10 to30. Of the three mentioned, teenagers are mostly affected, nonetheless osteosarcoma can happen at any stage. Osteosarcoma usually begins in the legs, close to the end of the long bones primarily targeting the knee. Another commonplace for osteosarcoma to be present is near the

Sarah, after hearing the news, told Cate that it was our family’s lack of faith—and specifically, Cate’s lack of faith—that caused the baby to die. We did not “claim” God’s healing for Hannah, and if we had done so she would have been born alive. The suffering from Hannah’s death was magnified by Sarah’s assertions, and our family is still grappling with both. It has broken my mother’s heart, caused my father to believe his lack of faith killed his grandchild, and made Cate suffer more than she

Imagine what it would have been like to be Mary during the time the Angel Gabrielle was sent down to exclaim the good news that the Lord chose to bestow upon her. God immediately begins to show comfort and compassion to Mary through varies forms of signs and sayings. For when Gabrielle appears before Mary he immediately senses her emotion of fear and says, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (Luke 1: 30). We later learn that not only has God blest Mary with such a high honor of being the mother of his only son, Jesus, but also God has blest her relative Elizabeth with a son of her own (Luke 1: 36). Both of these signs contribute to the way God loves and cares for us. God sees our fear and shows comfort; God rewards us for believing and accepting the challenge of

The way she would talk to me would always put a smile on my face.” She then related to the topic of life, the subject we first started discussing. “Exactly, I can’t see God, but I can feel him. He comforts and protects me, he makes sure I still push through.”

I have also come to a deeper understanding of God’s abiding presence – especially in our suffering. During this last year, North Wood has experienced more than its share of tragedy. One family’s experience helped me understand God’s presence and God’s “peace that passes understanding” in a way I had not previously.