{"id":2172,"date":"2026-03-15T15:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T19:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/?p=2172"},"modified":"2026-03-09T14:38:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T18:38:24","slug":"take-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/?p=2172","title":{"rendered":"Take Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">As the sun warms and life quickens, here in early Spring&#8230;as the icy hold of death is cracked loose, slips away like a dark dream&nbsp;in the face of&nbsp;bright dawn arising&#8230;as we turn our faces toward Resurrection Day, there is this Word for all those holding onto hope:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><span id=\"en-NLT-18423\">&#8220;Look up into the heavens.<\/span>&nbsp;Who created all the stars?&nbsp;He brings them out like an army, one after another,&nbsp;calling each by its name.&nbsp;Because of His great power and incomparable strength,&nbsp;not a single one is missing&#8230;.<span id=\"en-NLT-18424\">how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?&#8230;<\/span>how can you say God ignores your rights?<span id=\"en-NLT-18425\">&nbsp;Have you never heard?<\/span>&nbsp;Have you never understood?&nbsp;The Lord is the everlasting God,&nbsp;the Creator of all the earth.&nbsp;He never grows weak or weary.&nbsp;No one can measure the depths of His understanding&#8230;.He will feed His flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in His arms, holding them close to His heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.<span id=\"en-NLT-18428\">&#8221; (Isaiah 40:26-28, 11)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">~~~~~~~<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><em>Courage is what is elemental to living \u2014 composed of two parts fierce hope, and one part wild believing.<br>It\u2019s hope that can create a quake that cracks all despair.<br>It\u2019s hope that stands in your dark with a lamp lit with prayers.<br>And it isn\u2019t the\u00a0likelihood\u00a0of your hope that sustains you, but the\u00a0object\u00a0of your hope that sustains you.<br>We lay our hope, full and tender, into the depths of Him.<br><\/em><\/p><cite><em>Ann Voskamp<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">~~~~~~~<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><em>All this pain<\/em><br><em> I wonder if I\u2019ll ever find my way<\/em><br><em> I wonder if my life could really change at all<\/em><br><em> All this earth<\/em><br><em> Could all that is lost ever be found<\/em><br><em> Could a garden come up from this ground at all<\/em><br><em> You make beautiful things<\/em><br><em> You make beautiful things out of the dust<\/em><br><\/p><cite><em>Beautiful Things, Gungor<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the sun warms and life quickens, here in early Spring&#8230;as the icy hold of death is cracked loose, slips away like a dark dream&nbsp;in the face of&nbsp;bright dawn arising&#8230;as we turn our faces toward Resurrection Day, there is this &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/?p=2172\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-roots","category-lent"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9XvNH-z2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2172"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4162,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2172\/revisions\/4162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}