Hope is a Choice

"Because You’re all I want, You’re all I need, You’re everything.” This is the cry of my heart, and it has become my anthem. The beauty of everything is now vastly more apparent. The magnitude of God opened up to a life I never knew existed; a life of abundance even during the greatest hardships and trials.

What if I said, the sun always sets, and rises, with hope and a new day? Would you believe it? How about if I said, the Son died and rose with hope? Would you believe that? Each day, actually ever second within that day, we are offered a life of hope. Jesus does not offer condemnation, but He does present constant hope—and yes, God does teach us lessons, but that doesn’t mean there is no hope. If we believe that every day is a new day, why can’t we believe that Jesus offers new hope for everyday? God doesn’t examine our record and see if we are worthy of being part of His family. He made a way through giving up His perfect Son, making Him imperfect so we as imperfect sinful people could be part of His family.

Is that too much theological gibberish for you? Okay, fine by me, how about we make it easier to understand? A great man from my church back home once described it like this: “You’re swimming in the ocean. There is nothing around you, but the largest waves you’ve ever experienced. Waves that continue to knock you deeper, and deeper, into the depths of a never-ending sea. You are losing the ability to breath and lost all hope of survival. The whole time there has been a life vest thrown to you. A float that not only offers hope, but survival and you have two options. One options is to ignore the life vest and continue sinking deeper, and deeper, continuing to fight on your own with no hope. The second option is to cling to the life vest of hope. It’s a choice, the life vest is present, but we don’t have to take hold of it.”

Would you like to mix the two terminologies? The ocean represents the life we are living. The waves represent everything that can be thrown at us, and our sin, such as: stress, anxiety, lust, serving other gods, pain, suffer and etc. The life vest is salvation, and an invitation, into God’s family. God will not make us join His family, but He is the only one to offer constant hope in and a world of constant hardships. 

What is your choice?

This is only the beginning of life with hope; there are numerous other magnitudes of blessings and life in abundance to be offer. Are you curious? Ask me! How about we partner together and help you figure it out? Life is beautiful; we just need a little help to see all the beauty admits the trials. 

Come Fly With Me

Well folks, I am on a Holy Spirit led adventure. This journey has an interesting story and many Godimonies; a testimony completely filled, to the brim, with God and His Holiness. Just like every other story out there, let’s start at the beginning.

We had a lot of ruckus going on back home, and needed to rekindle and reboot our systems so, my mommy and I took a getaway in early May to Charleston, South Carolina. It was on a whim and we almost went to Pensacola, Florida, but the weather looked awful there. Thus, God brought us to Charleston. We stayed on the beach called Isle of the Palms, but favored Sullivan’s Island. I’ll never forget my mom’s tears of joy and when she told me, “Take a picture of the foot prints in the sand. Those are God’s footprints and He’s carrying me.” Amen Momma!  

Numerous hours were spent roaming through all the historical streets of downtown and walking on the beach. During one of our walks, I looked at mom and said, “I’m moving to Charleston.” Me being the wonderer I am, mom asked, “for a camp or something?” Nope, not for a camp, I wanted to live here. Thus, I started the search for a way to make it happen.

Jesus sweetly reminded me of my passion for  ‘lil kiddos, and pushed me to look in that area. I did. Now, I am living in Charleston as a live-in Nanny for a little two-year-old boy. Folks, that’s just the beginning of God’s great works in my life. God truly cares about our desires, and often puts them in our hearts, let Him in—you’ll be amazed at His above and beyond mentality.

As the weeks led up to my move here, I constantly prayed for three things: a church, community and friends. My goal was to find those in the first couple months. I can imagine Jesus laughed at that goal, smile and said, “Just wait and watch me work.” Within four days, ninety-six hours, my Jesus had given me all three. A church. A community. Friends. I want to thank every person who prayed for me and continues to pray—prayers have been and continue to be answered! He’s ever faithful!

Awaken Church, a church plant of less than two years, is completely filled with the Holy Spirit and seeking Christ full-on. They desire to reach Charleston and see everyone in it Awakened to the love of the Lord. As my lovely Vineyard family would say, “come on, Jesus!” Not only is Awaken reaching their community via truth and being Jesus. They partner together with one another to form a close-knit community welcoming to all—Thanks Beth for getting me involved. Oh yeah, Beth was the one who greeted us at the door, and then helped me get signed up for small group after church. One person’s generosity of time and love is enough to awaken the world, one person at a time.

Then, within church, I found this community of young adults—folks my age, completely in love with Jesus and desiring to see Him show-up and show-out. After four short days, I was getting invited to go hang out with these folks. That's not normal, but when our steps get inline with Jesus’s steps, the path is one not understood by the world, but full of joy for those who believe. The community opened up a circle of friends, friends who I’ve connected with so rapidly. That’s Holy Spirit stuff if y’all ask me.

On Wednesday, July 30^th, I will have lived here three weeks. In those three weeks I’ve had the joy of experiencing numerous different activities, some simple and some more extravagant. I’ve spent two days lying on the beach, reading and jumping wave—for this Kentucky gal, that’s extravagant. Do you know the water never stops; it keeps coming up from the depths to the surface and does that over-and-over? That’s how Jesus works; He’s full of depth, but surfaces and digs deeper over-and-over again. There is always MORE where our relationship with Christ is concerned.

I’ve ran over a super tall, super long bridge, which is a huge victory for me. Bekah, me, myself and I do not do bridges—like no. But, when fear is conquered, victory arises; there is beauty in conquering our fears. Running the Ravenal Bridge was breathtaking, the fear vanished and beauty stepped in.

This past weekend, on Friday, I ran a half-marathon, which ended up being 14.2 miles. It started at the stroke of midnight and we, my new friend Erin and I, finished a little before two o-clock in the morning. The finish line happened to be in the ocean. So, let me sum this race up for you—midnight, long run, beach feet, fantastic, minus one toenail equals an amazing experience.

The past two weeks I’ve spent with friends, once at Red’s Ice House listening to some folks from church play music. The next over at the lake hanging out, floatin’, paddle boarding and soaking up the sun, and the Son, for the matter of fact.

Photo Credit:Trent Howard

And that folks is my favorite part, new friends who simply want to live life together. 

Simple, yet profound.

God’s blessings continually astonish me; He is breathtaking and worthy of all we are. This my friends is the most valuable relationship you can invest your time in. An invest that will never drop out of the market, or leave you. An investment that invest more in you, then you in Him. “Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be open unto you,” Matthew 7:7.

I’m in a season of flying with Jesus, a season of exploration and extravagant growth. 

What season are you in?