Hello, thank you so much for joining me today for Give Him 15.

The title of today's post is Sending Hope to Florida.

Never underestimate the power of hope.

The Old Testament word for hope has the connotation of a cord used as an attachment.

New Testament calls it an anchor of the soul, Hebrew 619.

Hope is a lifeline, a stabilizer.

In 1965, during a family reunion in Florida, a grandmother woke everyone at 1 a.m., issuing orders

to get empty Coke bottles, corks, and paper.

I've received a message from God, she said.

People must hear his word.

She wrote verses on the paper while the grandchildren bottled and corked them.

Then everyone deposited over 200 bottles

into the surf at Cocoa Beach.

People contacted and thanked her

for the scriptures throughout the years.

She died in November 1974. That's nine years later.

The next month, the last letter arrived. Dear Mrs. Gawes, I'm writing this letter by candlelight. We no longer have electricity on the farm.

My husband was killed in the fall when the tractor overturned. He left 11 young children and myself behind.

The bank is for closing.

There's one loaf of bread left.

There's snow on the ground.

And Christmas is two weeks away.

...