What are words?

What are words, but to share what is in our hearts. There have been many many times in my past that my words got stuck in my throat. Then, there are many other times when I wish they would have gotten stuck in my throat because they came out all wrong.

Have you ever wished you could take back your words?

I have. It’s a very bad feeling when the wrong words come out. Especially if they’ve hurt someone. It’s a bad feeling to be misunderstood. Wishing that the right words would have been spoken rather than the ones that just slipped out without you knowing how it happened.

Starting a blog was an intentional way for me to choose the words I would say and then say them. Maybe subconsciously, it’s been a way for me to rewrite some of those words that I spoke early on in my life that I wish were left unspoken.

Writing is a way to say the good. 

To encourage. 

To give hope and love to a world where it can seem pretty sparse sometimes.

I can choose what I put on here. And, that feels pretty good. It feels good to choose the good to share.

Today, I want to share with you just three simple truths. These truths are life changing if you will let them sink deep down in your soul. 

Ready?

You are loved.

You are worthy.

You are enough.

Think on those good words today, friend, and find hope and encouragement in a world where it seems pretty sparse sometimes.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, friend! I'm so very happy you did!

Linking up today with others at Kate's place for Five Minute Friday for five minutes of free writing without all the fuss over editing and punctuation. Won't you stop by and join in? Today's prompt is "share".

When you need the heart of an adventurer

On December 1st it struck me that a new month was beginning. I'm thinking that it's also because the moving truck was coming the next day to carry our things to a different home and we were going to be leaving the house we have lived in for fourteen years.

We spent much time raising our now grown children in that home.  As I put my pen to my journal page this prayer came out. I call it the "anytime prayer" and not just a prayer for new things like the beginnings of months and moving to a new home. 

Because the things that were prayed for are things we need daily, if not moment by moment.



A new month. A fresh start. 

Lord, heal our wounds, correct our attitudes, lift our spirits and help us see hope from Your perspective. Help us look for you and your work every morning, noon and night. 

Finding Your fingerprints on our lives gives us meaning and fills our lives with joy.

Fill each day with meaning and by that I mean we need hearts of an adventurer to look for the meaning you've already placed here.

Give us a vision for our future. May we look forward with hope, for you have already prepared the way for us and you've already been there, too.

As we remember the past, may we not do so with a tainted, negative view at all that went wrong, but through the lens of gratitude and love for lessons we've learned along the way.

We need your help daily Lord, to see things from your perspective. 

Help us.

We acknowledge our frailty and need your strength.



May we have eyes that look for the best in others.
May we have hearts that endure.
May we have arms that stretch out to the needy around us.

And, may we know that we carry Your love in us to a hurting world.

Amen.


Thanks for stopping by, friends!
Blessings to you, always!

~Anne

Linking up today with Coffee for Your Heart and Three Word Wednesday!

There's nothing so sweet

Today is Five Minute Friday~I'm joining lots of other creatives over at Lisa Jo Baker's blog to write on the prompt: "nothing". No editing in the writing. Just writing for the fun of it. Won't you stop by over there, or better yet, join in? 

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I’ve been finding lately that there’s nothing so sweet as kindness.

Except for maybe hope. 

Hope has been called that thing with feathers that sits within the soul. 

Hope has also been called an anchor. 

I can see how it can be both those things. 

Something so light, that it’s ready to take off into the highest heavens trying to entice you to catch hold of it.

It is also an anchor. Hope, when all hope is lost is an anchor. That hope I’ve found is in God my Father. 

An anchor isn’t going anywhere. It’s solid. It stays put even in the stormiest seas. Even when the wind beats it, it won’t budge. That’s what true hope is. 

Where have you found this kind of hope?

Back to the kindness thing. 

I guess kindness came first in my mind because I’ve been experiencing the kindness of people in the most unlikely of places. 

Just in my day to day dealings with people. 

And, you know what? That is what’s given me hope lately.

Have you found that to be true too, 

that when you experience kindness from someone, maybe someone you didn’t expect it from, or maybe it’s a total surprise that knocked your socks off….haven’t you found that that unlikely, surprising, coming-out-of-no-where kindness ignites a hope in you that won’t budge? 

That hope that is not unlike an anchor. 

But that hope that has the wings,

the feathers that woo you to take off and fly.

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Thanks for stopping by, friend!

When it's hard to see God's face

I choose to believe.

to never give up hope.

God is good

He's in control.

These lyrics to Phillips, Craig and Dean's song resonate through me. They go on to say,

and even when His face is hard to see, 

I choose to believe.

There are definitely times in my life that God's face is hard to see. His voice is hard to hear. I know that doesn't mean He is not there and that He is not in control. But, this song moves me. It touches my heart and reminds me that God is always in control of my circumstances, no matter what it going on. It reminds me to never give up hope.

I do have to choose this however. It is my choice whether to trust that God is good. To trust that He is in control and to trust in Him enough to keep my hope. 

It is my choice. 

I had lunch with my college daughter today. I asked her a question that was posed in my Alpha group a few weeks ago. I asked,"How do you answer someone who asks the question 'what does your relationship with God look like'?"

She said that sometimes she has to choose to read her Bible, or choose to worship or choose to pray, even if her feelings don't match up to that. "Every good relationship has to have time put into it. I can't just meet with them once in awhile and expect that relationship to be a close one. The same is true in my relationship with God." Very wise words from a girl of nineteen.


God is indeed a good God. 

eyes wide open: to hope {day 20}

Hope: comfort, expectation, confidence, trust.

Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.

What are you hoping for? Have your hopes ever been dashed to pieces? 

I'm hoping for many things.
I'm hoping for healing and wholeness.
I'm hoping that my family grows in the knowledge that God loves them.
I'm hoping for healthy relationships.
I'm hoping one day to continue my education.

There have been times that my hopes were smashed to pieces--which led at times to a feeling of hopelessness.  I also realize that not all of my hopes will be realized if they are in the wrong things. 

Even though I love my family deeply, there is no guarantee in this life that we will not ever disappoint one another.

I have found that there is only One object of my hope that promises to never disappoint me or let me down. God promises that He is my hope. His Word is hope. His kind of hope is an anchor.  I like the sound of that. A hope that is so solid that it becomes my pillar. My security. Something I can trust in no matter what is going on in my circumstances. 

I have found God's supernatural hope to be trustworthy. Even in my darkest times. His hope has allowed me to see beyond my current situation (hope) to better days. 



Romans 5:5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Romans 15:4 Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled. 

Hebrews 6:19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary.

Are you disappointed today? Grab on to God's kind of hope. His anchor and security for your soul. He will never disappoint you. 

Psalm 62:5 Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.

see day 1 for a list of all 31 posts