Every Stage of My Life, Planned Out

God Saw Each and Every Stage

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day. Psalm 129: 15,16 (MSG)

I read these verses in my morning time this week. I couldn’t stop thinking about them all week. These verses have the potential to change our lives when we realize the amazing concept behind them!

A Beautiful, Full Life

When you were conceived, God saw you growing inside your mother’s belly. Just as you open a book and flip through the pages, God saw every stage of your life play out before Him while you were still in the womb.

God saw the family you would be born into. He saw the school you would attend, the friends you would make. God saw how each and every moment of your life would play out. He saw the choices you would make, both the good and the bad. He saw who would influence and impact your life. He saw if and who you would marry, the kids you would have, the job you would work, the dreams you would dream.

He beamed with intense happiness when you accepted His love and sacrifice for you and smiled when you experienced incredible moments of joy. Then He watched in sorrow as you endured trials and hardships. He saw the events and people that would break your heart. Anger resonated in His chest when He watched Satan twist things in your mind to make you think that He didn’t care and didn’t love you anymore. He watched as every scene of your life unfolded before Him. He thought for a moment. It was an amazing life He had planned for you. Now it was up to you to choose Him and let Him direct you each step of the way. If you did, you would look back on a beautiful, amazing life. Then God smiled and closed the book. Everything was prepared for your life. Now you just had to be born.

Trusting God

When life gets crazy and we can’t see up from down, we can choose to remember these verses. Nothing in your life has taken God by surprise. He saw the stage of life you are in right now when you were still in the womb. Sometimes, we need to just Trust that God Knows What He is Doing and leave our situation in His capable hands.

P.S. I was looking for a baby picture to go with this post and couldn’t find a good stock one I liked. So I chose one of my favorites instead. This picture is from eight years ago when Madison was born.

Boy holding baby — Malachi at eighteen months holding baby Madison

Living Loved

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Eugene Peterson and the Message

A few years ago, Matt and I listened to a podcast interview with Eugene Peterson, who is best known for giving us The Message translation of the Bible. We heard his story of being a pastor and why he translated the Bible into modern language for his people. We loved hearing his story and spent time learning all about the amazing man that he was. Sadly, he died in 2018, but the legacy he has left this world is undeniable. For a while, I have been wanting to get a copy of The Message Bible to be able to study as a part of my morning time. If you want an idea of what my morning time routine looks like, read My Best Tips for an Effective Morning Time.

My Christmas Present

My wish came true. Matt bought me a beautiful purple soft leather Message translation Bible for Christmas. I feel like I have been reading the Bible again for the first time. It’s been a nice change-up in my Bible reading. I have so enjoyed my mornings! I love comparing these new verses with the ones I have been familiar with for years in the King James Version.

Changing my Thinking of God’s Love

This past week, I read a verse that totally changed my thinking about God’s love. I was reading in the book of John. Chapter seventeen records Jesus’ prayer in the garden. He spends the bulk of his prayer praying for the disciples and followers he was leaving behind. The last verse in the chapter really caught my attention. Here is the verse as found in The Message, then in the King James.

I have made your very being known to them—
Who you are and what you do—
And continue to make it known,
So that your love for me
Might be in them
Exactly as I am in them. John 17:26 MSG

Isn’t that an amazing verse? Pay close attention to the words I darkened. Remember the context. Jesus is talking to God his Father. Jesus says, “So that your love for me might be in them.” Here is the same verse in the KJV translation.

And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. John 17:26 KJV

Struggling with the Concept of God’s Love

A lot of us struggle with the concept of God loving us for a myriad of reasons. Maybe we didn’t grow up with a father who was good to us. That gave us a bad picture of our heavenly Father. Maybe we don’t feel worthy of God’s love. We know in our heads that God loves us, but feeling it and believing it in our hearts is a different story.

When we talk about God loving us, we struggle to comprehend and understand it. So then we don’t live our life feeling loved.

When we read in John that God loved his son, we understand that. We can comprehend that. Jesus says to God, “Let the love that you have for me be in them.” That is so much more understandable and relatable. We get that kind of love. It’s a parent’s love for their child. We accept the fact that God loves His Son so much! That same love is the love that is in our hearts as children of God.

Living Loved

That thought makes me lift my head a little higher and puts a smile on my face. It’s an amazing concept! That makes loving other people a little easier too.

When I walked into church this past Sunday, I reminded myself that God’s love for Jesus is the love that’s in my heart. That thought makes it so much easier to open my heart and love other people. When we fully begin to grasp the concept that God’s love for Jesus fills our hearts, we can live knowing we are fully and deeply loved. What does living loved look like practically?

Inviting someone into our home for a meal.
Writing a note of encouragement to someone going through a hard time.
Making a meal for someone who is sick or has been in the hospital.
Taking cookies to our neighbors.
Listening to someone pour out their heart to us.

When we live loved, we no longer worry about doing things because we want a pat on the back or someone to notice us. We simply do it because of the overflowing love found in our own hearts, the love that God has for His Son Jesus.

God’s Gifts at Christmas

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‘Tis the Season

‘Tis the Season… the season where we threaten our kids if they don’t obey, they aren’t getting any presents for Christmas! Ha! Maybe that’s just at our house. The honest truth is, we are going to give presents to our kids, whether they deserve them or not. Sure we threaten them, but when Christmas Day comes, there will be presents under the tree. Why? Because we love our children and want to do good things for them, even if they don’t deserve it.

Jesus Talks about Good Gifts

Jesus was talking to his disciples about prayer, and He talks about them giving gifts to their children.

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Luke 11:13

I love how blunt Jesus is. Remember, He is talking to his disciples, not the Pharisees. Yet he calls his disciples evil! He says even you, who are evil, choose to give good gifts to your children. How much more does your Heavenly Father want to give good gifts to those who ask of Him?

Surprised at God’s Gifts

So many times we don’t expect God to do good things for us. We are surprised when He sends a good gift our way. Why? Probably because we don’t think we deserve it. Yet, God says repeatedly that He loves giving His children gifts.

Sometimes it feels like God isn’t sending any gifts our way. Maybe it’s because we aren’t looking for them or we’re looking for them in the wrong places. We are looking for His gifts in our bank account, at our job, from friends. Maybe He is showering us with gifts, but we are too busy and consumed to notice them.

God’s Gifts All Around Us

God has given us so many good gifts, and Christmas time is a good time to purposefully look for them. When you do, you will see they are all around you.

It’s the family that sits around the table with you on Christmas day. It’s the warm home and bed that you will sleep in tonight. It’s the joy on your kids’ faces on Christmas morning when they open their presents- presents that God provided the money to buy. It’s sipping hot chocolate while looking at Christmas lights. It’s setting up the Christmas tree and decorating the house while Christmas music plays. It’s the joy of seeing friends at the holidays that you haven’t seen in a while. It’s the break from the busyness and stress of work to enjoy time to relax. It’s in reading the Christmas story and being reminded that we have all of this because of a baby in a manger.

Looking at lights as a family…with hot chocolate.

Christmas is full of God’s gifts to us. If you choose to look, you will find them all around you. During this Christmas season, let’s choose to look for these gifts and thank God for them. Enjoy the small blessings of His favor all around you. If you want a great Christmas book to remind you of the wonders of Christmas, grab a copy of Matt’s book Chase the Wonder: Stories of Christmas to Fill Our Hearts with Hope. I am enjoying reading a chapter each morning after I finish my Bible reading and journaling.

If you want some inspiration to create Christmas memories with your family, check out these posts- Family Christmas Series: #1 Reading Basket or Family Christmas Series: #2 Looking at Lights.

Hello, Mornings!

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My Morning Time Routine

I love mornings! Do I always love getting out of bed? No, but I have never regretted the mornings I get up early. Mornings set the tone for my day. A successful morning for me is any morning I get up early and complete my morning time routine before my kids wake up!

My morning time routine consists of lighting a candle, making a cup of coffee, and getting out my Bible, journal, and a pen. In my journal, I complete the prayer section- gratitude, confession, and requests. Then I spend time reading my Bible and writing down anything that stood out to me or a verse I want to remember for the day. It’s simple but effective. My morning time puts my heart and my mind in the right place for the day. For a more detailed description of my morning time, you can get a free copy of my ebook, Better Mornings, Better Moms by clicking HERE or you can read My Best Tips for an Effective Morning Time HERE.

Why Does Journaling Matter?

It’s common knowledge that we remember better when we simply write it down. I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember what I ate for lunch an hour ago, let alone something I read this morning! Just spending a few moments writing down something from our morning time will keep it with you throughout the day. I see a huge difference in the days I read my Bible and journal and the days I only read my Bible.

Journaling also helps to develop consistency. I can see how many days I have read my Bible each week. It also helps with consistency in prayer. If I don’t have a list in front of me, my mind often wanders. Having the requests written out in front of me helps me to stay focused.

Another benefit of writing something down is that I can come back to it later on in the week and look back and be encouraged or share it with someone else. My journals are my life-line.

Faithfully Stepping Journal

Matt and I developed a journal years ago that we have printed for ourselves personally and for our church family, but I am so excited to announce that they are finally available for purchase. Matt created three beautiful covers! I love all of them. They will be available on Amazon on Black Friday. Each journal contains six months of journaling pages and uses the system that Matt and I have used in our morning time for several years. If you want to take your relationship with God to the next level, these journals are the answer!

A Second Chance in Life

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A Second Chance for Maggie

My children and I were doing chalk art as part of our homeschool today. We follow Nana from You Are an Artist, and absolutely love her! Today, in honor of Frozen II coming out in a few weeks, she did a drawing of the characters from Frozen. A few of my children are perfectionists and get frustrated when they don’t get it perfect. I try to do these art projects with my children, so they can see that I am not perfect either. Actually, I am downright terrible at art.

Today, we were following along when suddenly my five-year-old, Maggie crumbled her paper up and threw it away. She cried in frustration because she couldn’t get her paper to look just like Nana’s. She ended up not finishing the rest of the lesson with us. My older two children and I completed our chalk drawing. While they were not by any means perfect, they were finished.

I tried to explain to Maggie lovingly that a finished project is better than none at all. Our art papers weren’t perfect. There were smudges, coloring outside the lines, and things were lopsided and not proportionate; but they were finished. We proudly showed our papers off to Matt. The kids were so proud of their papers. Teasingly, I told Matt that if writing doesn’t take off for us, it’s okay. I got us covered; I think I have a career in art. Ha! After Maggie calmed down, she asked for a second chance. Of course, I was all too happy to give her one.

The Picture of Our Lives

I think our lives are kind of like our chalk art papers from today. They’re not perfect. They’re messy. We color outside the lines and get dirty and marked with smudges. It’s messy and doesn’t look anything like we thought it would. We look at it in disgust because it’s a hot mess. Yet just as a parent looks at their child’s artwork and thinks it’s amazing, even when it’s not, that’s how our Heavenly Father sees our lives. Jesus looks at the picture of our life and sees a masterpiece because he loves us.

Peter’s Second Chance

When I think of second chances, I think of the story of Peter. Could there be any better example? I was reading this week in the book of Mark. Chapter sixteen tells of the resurrection of Jesus. An angel appears at the tomb and talks to the women who are searching for Jesus.

And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.
But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you. Mark 16:5-7 (KJV)

I love that phrase, “Tell his disciples and Peter…” Peter, the man who just betrayed Jesus gets a shout-out. Jesus gave him a second chance. Jesus knew Peter’s greatest moments would follow his greatest failure.

Those Who Have Been Forgiven Much

I think of the story of the woman who wiped Jesus’ feet with her tears. The Pharisees criticize Jesus. They say, “If Jesus really knew what an awful sinner she was, he would never allow himself to be near her.” Jesus rebuked them and responded to them saying, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” Of course, the opposite is true. To whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much.

People who have been forgiven much are capable of great love for others. These people are the ones who help the hurting and the down and outers in life. These are the people who really make a difference in this life.

A Masterpiece

So to you, your life looks messy and nothing like you thought it would. But God looks at it and he sees a jewel in the making. He sees all the crooked lines and the mistakes coming together. He’s the masterful artist creator who can take anything and turn it into a beautiful showpiece. Remember, sometimes we have to choose to love the life we have, not the one we want.

If you don’t feel like you add up to anything today if you feel like you’ve made too many mistakes, know this- Jesus loves you and hasn’t given up on you. If you’re breathing, you still have a life to live and a picture to paint with your life. God’s given you a second chance. Let’s make the most of it. When you let God be the master artist, he makes a masterpiece out of your life.

New Books Revealed, Our Trip to Colorado, and More

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You may have noticed, I haven’t been blogging for the past month. We have been crazy busy at our house preparing books for launch day! Blogging has taken a back seat the past few weeks. Let me fill you in on what we’ve been up to.

Family Photo with my parents in their church.

Our Trip to Colorado

My parents moved to Colorado during the fall of last year. We haven’t had a chance to make it out there to visit yet. We decided this fall was the perfect time to rectify that. So in the middle of October, we made the twenty-five hour trip to Colorado. On the way, we stopped in Illinois to see my two sisters and their families. We had an awesome time together for the few short hours we were there.

My sisters and I and our husbands and kids.

After that, we drove the rest of the way to Colorado. We were able to be out there for a week. We got to see my Grandparents and our other family out there. On Sunday, we got to visit the church my dad pastors and spend time meeting all the amazing people who make up their church. I finally got my husband to Estes Park. I’ve been wanting to do that since we’ve been married- 13 years. We got to experience Rocky Mountain National Park as a family. My older kids were not fans of the mountains! They were too scared to walk around at the higher points of the park. All in all, we had an amazing trip and can’t wait to get back out there.

Macey was the only one brave enough to walk around up high in the mountains.

Matt and I finally getting to Estes Park.

My Fantasy Fiction Book

I am so excited to finally be able to announce my new fantasy book, Red Rose Rising. I’ve been working on this book the past several months and am entering the final stages for this book. It will release on Amazon on Black Friday. I can’t wait! For a look at the book, teasers, and quotations, check out my Facebook page A. J. Manney Books.

Faithfully Stepping Journal

I have also been working on my Faithfully Stepping Journal, which will also release on Black Friday. This six-month journal uses an easy format to help you grow in your relationship with God using journaling, Bible reading, and prayer time. Matt helped me design three amazing covers that I absolutely love! I will be revealing the covers soon, so stay tuned!

My New Book: The Hidden Pain

I will also be releasing my new book The Hidden Pain: When You Fear God is No Longer Blessing Your Life. This book took me a lot longer to write than I thought it would. I share my story about church planting looking nothing like I thought it would. I also share about the season of difficulty that we have come through this last year. This book is for anyone who is going through a season of difficulty and questioning God’s goodness.

The book is finishing the editing stage. I will be revealing the cover soon, so keep an eye out for it.

Black Friday

Black Friday is going to be a huge day for us as we will be rolling out multiple items. Along with my journals and books, Matt’s newest book, Chase the Wonder will also be rolling out that day. This Christmas book is one you will want to order for friends and family for a Christmas present.

Black Friday is only 17 days away! Watch your inbox for cover reveals for all our new books, and stay tuned for giveaways as we hit black Friday and head into the Christmas season!

5 Ways to Move Forward After a Difficult Season

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family lunch — Enjoying lunch together as a family for my birthday.

Our Season of Testing

Our family has just come through a tough season. About a year ago, everything in our personal lives and ministry fell apart. Through various circumstances, our church took a huge financial hit last summer. For several months, we didn’t receive a paycheck. When we finally started getting a paycheck again, it was half of what we used to make. It took us months to dig out of the pit both personally and for the church.

We ended up moving into a smaller house, and Matt picked up hours delivering for Amazon. Everything was turned on its head. So much changed for us over this past year. I think I can finally say, we are adjusting to our new normal. As with any tough season in life, I struggled for a long time. I spent a lot of time praying, journaling, being sad, getting angry, lashing out in frustration, and more. While life is not perfect, and we are still dealing with everything, I feel like I can finally take a full breath and focus on moving forward.

Job’s Life After His Season of Testing

I’ve been reading the book of Job this past month and thinking about his story. I wonder if Job had a hard time after God brought him through his season of testing. We know he lived a long life. I wonder what his life was like after God restored him. Did his body bear the scars of his disease? Did he struggle with post-traumatic stress? Was he constantly hovering over his children, protecting them, worrying about them? Did he constantly look over his shoulder? Was he always waiting for the hammer to drop? Did he fear God taking away everything again?

Living in Fear

After you come through something traumatic, fear keeps us from having peace. A few years ago, someone set our van on fire the night after Christmas. It was a pretty traumatic experience for us. You can read about it in a post I wrote HERE. After our van fire, I had a hard time sleeping at night. It took me a long time to be able to sleep through the night. I battled fear every night for awhile. All I could think about was it happening again.

I listened to a podcast a few years ago. The lady being interviewed spoke about losing her eight-month-old baby. A friend told her, “Well, at least the worst that could possibly happen, happened.” The mom who had lost her child said, “No, my greatest fear is it happening again and losing one of my other children.

Living Life to Its Fullest

Sometimes God takes us through a season of testing that leaves us battle-weary and scarred. We can spend our days looking over our shoulders in fear, but that’s no way to live life. I don’t think Job lived that way. The last commentary on his life comes from the final chapter of Job.

After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days. (Job 42:16,17)

I think that Job was somehow able to move on with his life and live it to the fullest.

5 Ways to Move Forward after a Difficult Season

How do you move on from something and not have it haunt you? Is it possible to live life fully in the moment and not fear something happening again? It can be. There are five ways we can choose to actively move forward.

Choose to live life one day at a time. Choose to trust God with today. Don’t can’t focus on tomorrow. Focus on God’s provision for today.
Enjoy each blessing and life today to the fullest. We must choose to smile and spend time with those we love. “Discouragement is a choice,” Rick Warren says. I remind myself of that often.
Don’t focus on the fear of the “what if’s.” We get paralyzed when we think about things falling apart again.
Write down something you are grateful for every day. Every morning, I start my morning time routine with writing down at least three things I am thankful for. This starts my day on a positive note.
Don’t spend time dwelling on the past. Think about the future and moving forward. When you are in a tough season, you can only manage to keep your head above water. As you start to move forward again, dream about the future. Make plans to live life fully again.

Following these five steps, we can find our footing again and begin to move forward after a season of difficulty. Solomon says, there is a time and a season for everything. God has not forgotten you in this season of difficulty. He is with you now, and He will help you when it’s time to start moving forward again.

Mornings are Our Reset Button

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My Morning Routine

Over the years, mornings have become my favorite part of my day. The quiet hours before my kids wake up are my most productive hours. After I drag myself out of bed, I go downstairs and light a candle. Next, I make myself a cup of coffee. Right now, it’s decaf pumpkin spice coffee with french vanilla creamer. Then I sit at my table, open my journal, and begin my morning time routine of journaling, praying, and Bible reading. If you would like to know more about my system, check out My Best Tips for an Effective Morning Time.

Mornings are My Reset Button

I love the mornings because they are a reset button for my heart. It’s a chance to start over. I can confess and ask forgiveness for the things I did wrong yesterday. The start of a new day washes away the failures and disappointments of yesterday. With a clean heart, I can face the new day.

David’s Love of Mornings

I believe that David loved mornings. He developed a habit of spending time with God in the morning. Why do I think this? David wrote so many verses in the Psalms about spending time with God in the morning.

I love the verse David wrote in Psalm 5.

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. Psalm 5:3 (KJV)

Similarily, I love how this verse is paraphrased in the Message.

Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar… (MSG)

Each New Day is a Fresh Start

Each new morning is a chance to come before God and lay out the pieces of my life. It’s a chance to realign myself with what God has for me for the day. When we find ourselves going several days on end without spending time with God in the morning, we get off track. Consequently, we lose focus on what is important and what God wants us to accomplish.

Each new day is a chance to start fresh. It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday. Instead of focusing on the failures and frustrations of yesterday, I can focus on what God has for me to accomplish today. God gives us a new day and a new chance to start over.

Jeremiah reminds us in Lamentations that God’s compassions are new every morning. Each day is a reset button, even on God’s compassion and mercy.

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:23 (KJV)

A Chance to Start Over

I don’t know what happened yesterday or the day before, but today is your chance to start over. Push the reset button. Start the day right by spending a few minutes in prayer and reading your Bible. Then ask God what He has for you today. Lay out your plans before Him and ask Him to direct you. When we get into the habit of doing this each morning, God can accomplish something great in and through us.

Are You Carrying a Problem that’s too Heavy for You?

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The Easy Fix to My Difficult Problem

The other day, I was outside jogging when I got a text from my husband, Matt. “Hey love, I got that problem fixed on your blog. You’re good to go.”

I read the text and laughed out loud. Of course he did! I thought to myself. I have had a technical problem on my blog the last several months that has been driving me crazy. I’ve researched the problem, tried several things, and run out of patience trying to fix it. Matt sat down and fixed it in less than ten minutes. He’s like that. He is my go-to for all things related to computers, programs, and pretty much anything technical. I used to think I was so techy. I’ve realized. I’m not. At. All. Matt can spend just a few minutes and do something that takes me hours to accomplish or figure out.

Jeremiah’s Recognition of God’s Power

I was thinking about that experience when I was reading my Bible in my morning time this week. I have been reading the book of Jeremiah. In chapter 32, Jeremiah pours his heart out to God in prayer.

Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: Jeremiah 32:17

As Jeremiah talks to God, he says, “I know that you made the entire world, and nothing is too hard for you.”

God Reminds Jeremiah of His Power

A few verses later, God addresses Jeremiah.

Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? Jeremiah 32:27

God and Jeremiah both agreed on God’s abilities. He is God, and there is absolutely nothing God can not do. In God’s hands, the most difficult problem becomes easy.

Our Problem in God’s Hands

Just as Matt can take something that is really hard for me and fix it quickly- God can do the same for us. The problems that are so big and unsolvable for us are nothing for Him. He created us, so He obviously cares about what happens to us. I wonder if the reason God doesn’t step in more often to help us with our problems is that He is simply waiting waiting for us to recognize His power and ask for His help. Peter gives us similar encouragement in I Peter 5.

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. I Peter 5:7

God wants us to give our burden to Him and let Him take care of it for us. When we do that, we no longer have to struggle under the burden. We can leave it with Him, and let Him worry about the outcome. When we do, we will have the peace we have been longing for.

What problems are you facing today that are beyond you? Could it be that God is simply waiting for you to ask His for help? Your problem is nothing for Him.

Choosing Hope- The Best is Yet to Come

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choosing hope quote — photo credit: Artem Kovalev

Job’s Suffering

I am reading in the book of Job right now for my morning time. If you know the story of Job, you know the incredible trials he went through. In one day, Job lost his wealth, his ten children, and his health. We see the play by play in chapters one and two. Chapters 3-37 record Job’s conversations with friends, his questions to God, and his heartbreak.

He uses words and phrases like “without hope,” “anguish of my spirit,” “bitterness of my soul,” and “my soul chooseth strangling and death rather than my life.” We get a glimpse into the depths of his hurt and grief. Have you ever felt the kind of feelings that correspond to some of those phrases? I could guess that you have. I know I have.

God’s Response

What’s interesting to me is that God says absolutely nothing for 34 chapters. We don’t know for sure how long Job’s suffering lasted, but we do know God did not step in right away. Why? Why would God allow Job to suffer? We know the “right” answer to that question… “God was testing him, God was proving him, God was answering Satan’s accusations.” But behind those pat answers lies a broken heart, Job’s heart. He didn’t know the story as we do. His story wasn’t written yet. The book of Job didn’t exist. He didn’t know there was a happy ending. He only knew the suffering he was enduring in the here and now, and it felt like it would destroy him.

Being Without Hope

Have you been in a place like that? Maybe you are there right now- a place where you feel without hope, and phrases like “bitterness of my soul” describe you. That’s a really hard place to be; I know because I have been there and am still there at times. When we get to a place like this, there is only one way to keep moving forward. Hope.

I’ve heard the phrase, “You can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air…but only for one second without hope.” We absolutely can not exist and certainly not move forward without hope. Hope is believing that good is going to come. It’s trusting that things are going to work out, even though it may not feel like it right now.

Hope is a Choice

Choosing hope is a choice. We can choose to stay in the dark place of anguish and bitterness of soul, or we can choose hope. It’s not going to come naturally. Hope is like a muscle. Just as it takes time and repetition to build muscle, it takes time and repetition to build hope. The more we choose to trust God and hope, the stronger our hope will get.

David understood this concept of choosing hope. The Psalms are full of verses about hope. Here are just a few to think about.

Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. Psalm 31:24
And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. Psalm 39:7
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. Psalm 42:11
For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth. Psalm 71:5

Satan can wreak havoc in our lives, but do you know what he can’t take away? Our hope. Do you know what Satan can’t stop? A woman who truly hopes in God, who truly believes that everything she is going through is just for a season. She knows God will get her through. That kind of woman is unstoppable because life’s circumstances can’t get her down.

Choosing Hope

My husband Matt just released his book, Breakthrough: Turning the Death of a Dream into the Birth of a Breakthrough. It’s our story interwoven with a study of the life of Joseph. It’s all about this concept, holding on to hope when your dreams come crashing down. If you are struggling to hold on to hope, I know this book would be a huge encouragement to you. You can grab the paperback copy here or the ebook here.

In his book, he uses a phrase that we have come back to time and time again. “This is a moment in your life; this is not the rest of your life.” When we get discouraged and feel like things will never change, we have to remember this is just a moment in our lives. Things won’t be this way forever.

Choosing hope is choosing to believe that God is not done with you yet. It’s trusting that he is working all things for your good and this breaking of you will be the making of you.