In her novel, Hope Makes the Heart Glad, author Marjorie Linton validates biblical promise that God is absolute good, equally present everywhere and within everyone. She affirms the absolute truth that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. Because God is absolute good and equally present everywhere, good is, therefore, the essence of everything.
No matter how severe circumstances are, God can turn any difficult situation around into a blessing. A situation may appear hopeless when we have exhausted all options and human resources, but because of the nature of God, which is absolute good, hope is a mainstay and, therefore, alive with unlimited possibilities.
Marjorie Linton shares in her book how in our humanity, we become hopeless when we seek quick solutions to complex challenges. She concedes that until we surrender to the will of God, we may sometimes experience hardships for years.
Nevertheless, every challenging experience has an underlying good. We see limitation only, based on our perception. There are no coincidences, no errors, no misfortune; only lessons to be learned and good to be experienced. Poet William Shakespeare once said, "There is nothing good or bad, but thinking that makes it so."
As individuals, we are inherently good. However, we go through a human experience, with the ultimate goal of self-realization. Our divine purpose is to express and be the good that we are, so in our humanity, we attract individual circumstances to teach us individual lessons.
Because the nature of God is good, He cannot be anything other than good, so He makes a way for us always with an opportunity to regroup. When we become truly in tune with divine presence, we will find God in every desire, every need, every heartache, and every circumstance. "Howbeit when the spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13).
The Buchanan family in this novel proves that hope is an anchor for our souls. It is faith holding out its hand in the dark. When we meet our challenges in faith, we will rise from hopelessness to hope.
