Can I Borrow a Cup of Hope?: How to Find Faith for Hard Times in 1 Peter

If you're looking for a cushy, fluffy make-me-feel-good-about-me book, this is not the study for you. If, however, you yearn to grow deeper as a disciple of Jesus, learning what true spiritual maturity is and how to get there, this study of 1 Peter will help you mine out each gem and do the hard work as Peter challenges us to do. Thank you so much for this resource, Amy!

Reading Can I Borrow a Cup of Hope? is very much like having a trusted friend who is also a Bible teacher speak hope into the hardest places of your life. Amy is a gifted teacher, and her words are just the right mix of clever, funny, and profound. Each chapter offers biblical support and tangible steps to help us walk away from hopelessness and toward whatever God has planned.

Suffering is something most people want to avoid, causing hopelessness and fear. But in reality, suffering is our privilege and a precious tool in the hands of our good, good Father, designed to conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus. Amy has taken deep truths about suffering and pointed us to the One, who alone, can provide all we need for any situation we face. Amy masterfully leaves us grounded in truth in one hand and a cup overflowing with hope in Jesus in the other.

Amy is that friend that encourages you and exhorts you in the same breath. She will pick you up, dust you off, and encourage you to keep running with fresh perspective on the very real and rooted hope we have in Christ. Far from hope being a pie-in-the-sky, saccharine wish, Amy shows us a hope that holds fast in stormy seas. She manages to define and defend hope (especially when things feel hopeless) while awakening the courage and the resolve of the Spirit within us and filling our cup for the next leg of the journey. I appreciated the invitation to dive deep at the end of the chapters and her hands-on resources are a treasure. The problems we face are real, but we are not alone. Armed with engaging stories from the early church and from her own life, Amy invites us to remember together the grit from those great cloud of witnesses that came before and beckon us onward. Surely, we aren't home yet, but books like this and friends like Amy make the wait that much sweeter.

With Amy’s encouragement, turn your hopefullys into hoping fully in the Lord. What a difference a space makes! Jesus tells us that in this world we will have trouble. How will I respond when trouble comes? This book challenges me once again that my conduct, especially during those times of trouble, speaks louder than words for my own personal relationship with God…and to those watching. This would be a great resource for groups to do together.

One thing Amy has always been about is community. Amy now leads us again to know we were created for community in Can I Borrow a Cup of Hope? “A cup of sugar” is not the only thing we can borrow from our community as Christians. As we surround ourselves with people of hope, by watching their examples of how to “hope fully,” we fill our own cups with an eternal perspective to keep our hearts encouraged through the toughest of trials. We also learn that that same hope seeps out to others through the cracks in our cups or the difficulties we endure. A deep and thought-provoking treatise on hope straight from 1 Peter. Great work, Amy!

Can I Borrow a Cup of Hope? is a beautiful, honest, and in-depth journey into 1 Peter that will leave you inspired, encouraged, and yes, even challenged. But in a good way. You'll come away a little humbler, a little more thoughtful and introspective, and best of all, a whole lot more able to set your hope fully on Christ, who has overcome all the trouble of this world.

I always considered ‘hope’ one of the most dangerous words in the English language. Hope is a set-up for heartbreak. Who needs that kind of pain? So when I got my hands on Can I Borrow a Cup of Hope?, I kept my expectations modest. Trust Amy to blow that exercise, quite literally, sky high. Her humble and relatable voice blends story, rock-solid Biblical teaching, and no-nonsense, practical wisdom in such a delightful way that I was scarcely aware of my heart's crossover from ‘Nope’ to ‘Hope.’ I came away with a confidence in my loving Father that I never knew possible.”

Amy’s study and writing this book about hope came at God’s perfect time. The world was in a shutdown of fear and uncertainty about the future, but Amy’s journey through I Peter reminds us of where our hope truly lies. Encouraging, challenging, and definitely worth reading. Thanks, Amy!

Amy Lively’s latest study, Can I Borrow a Cup of Hope?, invites each reader to engage in deep bible learning while also remaining practical for every person’s walk of faith. Each lesson is rich with historical context, honest application and a challenging takeaway that will leave readers spiritually satisfied and anticipating the hope they will find in their hard places. Every reader will close this book with a Christ-centered approach to their hardships, as Lively makes the 1st century letter of 1 Peter come to life for the 21st century Christian.

This beautifully written, Biblically rich deep dive into the life of Peter is a must-read. Full of scripture and real-life application, Can I Borrow a Cup of Hope? encourages readers to trade hopeless fears and hopeful fantasies for a firm and living hope found only in Jesus. Great for personal use or group study, you’ll find yourself returning to this book again and again.

If you’re at the end of life as you know it, you need a cup of hope, and that’s what Amy is serving. Like a neighbor who welcomes you in, Amy masterfully blends words on the page--thoughtful lessons from I Peter--which will both comfort your soul and coax you into the saddle, ready for the trials ahead. You’ll go from staring your sentences with, “Hopefully…” to having your hope fully rooted in Jesus and all he has for you.

I have known Amy Lively for many years and I have just got to say, this lady is the real thing. She doesn’t just write about living with hope and loving your neighbor, she lives every word she writes. You’ll see what I mean in Can I Borrow a Cup of Hope? Amy will serve as a wise guide and companion on your journey to rediscover the hope that Jesus brings.

In Can I Borrow a Cup of Hope? Amy Lively achieves two of my favorite things: engaging teaching and deep Bible study. This thoroughly-researched study of 1 Peter weaves the scriptural threads of Peter’s story together in ways that will challenge the mature Bible student and thrill the newest. As I connected my story to Peter’s in the book’s practical exercises, I had both “aha” and “oh ouch!” moments. This is the resource you need to fan the flame of hope.