Green Box: Refresh. Renew. Rejoice. 100% Online.

The green box is a new place for you to go to go to REFRESH your soul. To RENEW your faith. To REJOICE with others. New on www.hourofpower.org, the green box is your 100% online resource for
refreshment, renewal, and joy!

In the green box, among many other positive resources, you'll find:

The Prayer Community, where Pastor Sheila, ministry staff, and loving Hour of Power friends lift prayers to God every day! Become a part of this
vibrant community that believes in prayer to revitalize your life and the lives of
those you love.

The "Positive Minute," a dynamic daily e-devotional filled with encouragement and inspiration written by Dr. Schuller, Pastor Sheila, and other ministry leaders.

The weekly Hour of Power messages you love, available by podcast, so when you're on the move, you can take a message with you to receive a spiritual lift that only the Hour of Power can provide.

Social media networks, where you can sign up, for example, to be a fan of Hour of Power or friend of Pastor Sheila on Facebook, and receive video updates and encouraging words to share with your friends.

So, visit the green box today to refresh your spirit and renew your soul as we rejoice together in all the positive good that God is doing in our lives. The new green box is your 100% online resource, twenty-four seven, at www.hourofpower.org.

You Are God's Dream!

By Dr. Robert H. Schuller

I really believe that God is before me, behind me, and around me. One thing I know—I never asked to be born. I did not choose my father or mother. I did not choose my race, the color of my skin, or the language that I learned as a child. I did not choose the community in which I was born and raised. I did not choose the school I attended from the first grade through high school.

I have become increasingly aware throughout my life of one sentence that God has whispered to me time and time again: "You have not chosen me... I have chosen YOU!"

I believe powerfully in God's sense of destiny for our lives. You are God's glorious idea. You are God's wondrous dream! What miracle will He perform with and through you and me TODAY and TOMORROW?

The poet Louise Fletcher once wrote, "I wish that there were some wonderful place called the Land of Beginning Again, where all our mistakes and all our heartaches and all of our grief could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door and never put on again." Well, there is such a place. It is called NOW. In His mercy, God has granted each of us a new beginning at the dawn of each new day. When God is present within us, all things become new! Hallelujah!

Wake-up Call!

By Dr. Sheila Schuller Coleman

Who needs an alarm clock when you have a brand new baby? As a new mother, I was stunned at how the cry of a newborn baby could awaken my husband and I no matter how tired we were. There is no snooze button to hit when a baby cries. You get up and care for your infant and then, hopefully, get back to sleep. As new parents, you begin to long for the time when the baby will sleep through the night.

But, oh, the first time we heard the cry of each of our sons. The birth of our child-that first cry-he is born! Our child is born! A new life! After waiting and expecting and hoping and praying, finally the birth day arrived and the first breaths were heralded by the cry-a cry that made me and my husband cry-with joy.

The world was in desperate need of a Savior. The Messiah had been foretold and eagerly awaited. God's dream for His children was that they would be saved and redeemed from dead-end lives. And God did not keep His dream a secret. He gave us hints, hundreds of them through the prophets so we would recognize with certainty His only begotten Son.

So, for hundreds of years The Jewish nation eagerly anticipated, waiting, hoping, and expecting the arrival of the Messiah. I am sure they thought He would be born as the previous sons of kings had been born-with much heraldry and fanfare and in a palace, wrapped in silks.

Jesus-born to a teenage, unwed, virgin mother in a cave surrounded not by palace guards, but lowly beasts, cried out and awakened God's dream. This wake up call was accompanied by a heavenly host announcing that God's Son had been born. The Messiah had come. And as a result-we could have everlasting life.

May you celebrate God's wake-up call-the cry of a newborn baby-His Son. May His redemptive love awaken God's dream in your life today.