Bible Text: Psalm 31:24 | Speaker: Darlene Sala | Series: Encouraging Words | A delightful 92-year-old lady–legally blind–was moving to a nursing home. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, the staff member accompanying her provided a visual description of her tiny room.

“I love it,” she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been given a new puppy.

“Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room,” the staff member said.

“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged– it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice: I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away …just for this time in my life.”

What a beautiful attitude to have! I’m sure we all hope that in the final years of our lives we’ll reflect the positive mind-set of this dear lady.

One of the best things we can do to prepare for those years is to keep in mind that God is our source of hope. The God who has been faithful to us to this point in life will not abandon us in the years to come. The Psalmist wrote, “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord” (Ps. 31:24). “The eyes of the Lord are on those…whose hope is in his unfailing love” (Ps. 33:17- 18). It’s God’s promise. My prayer is that He may be your source of hope as you lean on Him for all you need!