At the beginning of this year, I read a book that a sweet friend gifted to me called "Daring to Hope" by Katie Davis Majors. I have read a number of encouraging books throughout my life, but this one stirred my heart in a deeper way than I've experienced in a long time. Though Katie's life is radically different from my own, the Lord used her story so mightily to minister to me and to bring life + healing to areas of my heart that I didn't even know needed to be freshly touched by Jesus.
The products that I design in my business are a creative outflow of what the Lord is doing in my heart during each season, and this new collection that is about to be released is all about HOPE. A theme that my Heavenly Father has been weaving throughout my life for the last few years, and one that has especially been on my heart in 2023.
I pray that you will be freshly encouraged by reading through this blog post as I share reminders of truth that the Lord has been journeying me through and as I share the heart behind this new collection with you. Scattered throughout this article, you will see specific scriptures that will be featured on the new products, as well as some quotes from Katie's book (the title of which inspired this new collection) that have challenged me in the best of ways.
HOPE.
A word that seems so out of reach in the world that we live in. We are faced daily with situations that seem impossible, mountains that look immovable, and a culture that is growing darker by the day. How, in such a world, are we to live as people filled with hope?
This Scripture has been on my mind so often this year — "In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you..." 1 Peter 3:15a. And that verse is spoken in the context of suffering.
I've asked myself so many times recently — based off of the way that I live, how likely is someone to ask me the reason for the hope that lies within me? Can they even see that I live with hope to begin with? Is there anything for them to even be curious about?
If I, as a daughter of the Most High King — set free and redeemed by Him and promised eternal life — am not living with hope, then that tells me that something is incorrect in my view of God. When I truly see Christ for who He is, in all power and majesty and sovereignty, then I have no logical reason to walk in despair, no matter how hopeless a situation may seem on the outside.
“With God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
ALL THINGS. That means that nothing is beyond repair. Nothing is too far gone to be restored. Nothing is beyond His reach and capability to redeem.
"Hope is a crazy thing, a courageous thing. Faith is a bold, irrational choice.
We live in a world where innocent people suffer and good friends die and stories don’t have the endings we pray for.
The pain and hurt are everywhere. But the joy and hope that we find in our Savior? They are everywhere too.
I do not have all the answers; actually, I don’t have many at all.
But this is what I know: God is who He says He is. In the hurt and the pain and the suffering, God is near, and He is good, even when the ending isn’t.
Our pain does not minimize His goodness to us but, in fact, allows us to experience it in a whole new way.
He loves me and SO He allows me to feel pain that draws me to Him.
And in the midst of the pain, He weeps with me for a world that is not as He intended, for sorrow that He did not design.
I can sing because I know what is coming.
In the dark of the night, I have seen His face.
I want to be brave enough to hold out the hope of the Gospel to a world that is hurting and alone and afraid.
Not a hope rooted in the absence of pain or heartache or suffering.
Not optimism that looks for the best-case scenario or happy ending.
A true hope that rises from the full assurance that our Savior is on His way.
It’s not light yet, but I know Him, the One who is the Light.
And so in the dark, I will sing." (Daring to Hope, Katie Davis Majors)
When we simply take God at His Word and choose to believe that He is who He says He is — we will live with hope. He is the God of all hope.
The choice is simple, each and every day. We can either choose to walk by what we see with our eyes here in the natural realm, or we can choose to believe what God says, even if it doesn't seem to line up with our circumstances.
Throughout history, faith in the midst of difficulty has always looked radical and foolish to those who don't know Jesus. And why would it be any different for us? You may have people in your life who question your decisions to believe that God will bring beauty from your ashes, or people who will discourage you from continuing to pray for something that has remained unchanged for years.
That becomes our place of decision. Do we follow Jesus because we truly believe Him? Or do we follow Him because we want our lives to be easy, nicely-put-together, and for everything to have a happy ending — the way we would have written the story ourselves.
The Lord sees your place of difficulty. He sees each one of your faithful prayers and each one of your tears. And He not only sees them, but He cares so deeply about each one.
"The world would teach us that pain is what ruins us. We are trained and conditioned to run from pain at all costs…He teaches me to view pain as a holy invitation to know Him more so that I can share Him more.
We look at pain and wonder why God would allow it. Sometimes the fig tree does not bud…the olive trees look bare…and the world looks bleak. Sometimes we are climbing Mount Moriah, unsure of what God is doing or why He asks this of us. But even as we wonder why, even as we wait, we are the ones who cling to the Lord. We can say with Habakkuk that we will rejoice — not because we enjoy the barrenness and the brokenness, but because God will be our strength…our pain can bring about an intimacy with God that we otherwise might not know.
Sometimes the things we would never pick for our lives gives us opportunities to receive God's provision, to see Him working in ways we otherwise might not experience." (Daring to Hope, Katie Davis Majors)
The Lord has a plan in all of this. Not just to turn your situation for good in the end, but to use it to strengthen you now. To teach you how to trust Him in the dark, not only in the light. To teach you how to believe for the impossible, even when everything around you would tell you it can't be done. To teach you how to dare to hope when all hope seems lost — because our hope comes from Him, not our circumstances.
“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” 2 Chronicles 20:12
Our faith rests on who we know our God to be. It doesn't matter if our mountains seem insurmountable to us...we're not the ones who move them anyways. It is our faith in who He is. He is the one who does the impossible. But He asks us as His children to believe for it. He will move on behalf of our faith + our prayers, no matter how imperfect they may seem.
The ending of our story may not be how we would have chosen for it to be. But our Heavenly Father knows far better than us what we truly need. He is using the difficulty in your life for good...in ways far beyond what you could even comprehend right now! What seems like chaos to us is not chaos to the Lord. Though we may not know exactly how our prayers will be answered, we can be absolutely assured that Jesus will turn all things for good and that the ashes of our lives will be turned to beauty — in His way and in His timing. We can believe Him for restoration in our situations...beauty is coming.
He loves you more than you could possibly fathom, and is so intimately acquainted with the dreams, hopes, and heart breaks that you carry. He is scripting your life story and has not forgotten you. If we could only see all that the Lord is doing behind the scenes when we think He is not moving at all — we would be astounded! He is working, friend. You might not be able to see it with your physical eyes yet, but He is truly moving things in the spiritual realm, and each season of your life has a purpose.
“The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.” Lamentations 3:25
Keep holding onto hope, friend. It is my prayer that people would see us living with such hope in the midst of a dark world and ask us the reason why.
May we be people who look to the Lord, no matter what.
May we be people who dare to hope.