" . . I will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope" (Hosea 2:15).

In Israel's collective remembrance the Valley of Achor was not a pleasant chapter. There, Achan brought disaster on all the people. They were routed by their enemies. It was a time of lessons learned through bitter experience. It is not what we would expect, but hardship--even pain--can, under God, become portals through which we pass to toward hope.