Planning a New Hope

  Commit Your works to the Lord, And your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:3 (New American Standard Bible)   Sometimes Life Seems So Unfair NOTE: This is not a post directed at someone who is in the midst of dealing with profound grief.             It was a dark rainy day and my mood mirrored the weather. Bowed down with feeling disconnected, sadness over a loss, wishing I had children and those bonds and ties, I took to my chair to pray and try to figure out how to get out of this glum state.             Some people might say I was having a pity party. Call it what you want, but often we need to be honest about what’s happening in order to find a resolution. While I knew that I have much for which to be thankful, what I possessed didn’t abate that profound sense of desolation exacerbated by the sense I couldn’t do anything about it. When we are you...

  And do not be conformed to this world, But be transformed by the renewing of your mind, That you may prove what the will of God is, That which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1 (New American Standard Bible)   The Courage to Stop and Evaluate              The picture showed the man who was waiting for the jury to decide his fate watching people freely walking down the streets. Knowing he would probably never experience such freedom, what must have gone through his mind?   I wondered if in these moments, his thoughts were somewhere in the line of How did I get here? This isn’t the way my life was supposed to go.             For sure, this example is extreme, but haven’t we all come to a conclusion where we asked, “How did I get here? How did this credit card get so high? Where did I lose myself in this relationship? How, how, how...

  For this reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you, and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. Ephesians 1: 15-18 (The New American Standard Bible)   Don’t Throw Away, Repurpose At the entrance of my front door is a long runner that is old and slightly curved. I love this about the carpet because it is a picture of life—our life’s path is never straight no matter our age. My interest in used furniture started while I was attending college in Jackson, Mississippi. There in a used f...