House of Hope blessing

Last week I had the honor of speaking at the House of Hope annual fall fundraising banquet, Harvest 06. www.houseofhopecr.org. House of Hope is a faith based organization which conduct classes and offer women the opportunity to learn how to be better equipped, more empowered and experience freedom in Christ. Our belief is that God desires to see His women set free from the past. We are here to support, encourage, challenge, inspire, and direct you on your journey through life. (House of Hope web page)

During my preparation I could see that the Lord was leading me to share some very personal thoughts and hurts. I knew God was calling me to talk about my sister Dana and how she would have benefited greatly from HOH. She faced many life challenges and wasn’t every really in a place physically where she could have been connected to the ministry. Her life ended abruptly on Valentine’s Day this year and it has been such a tremendous loss for our entire family. It was also a loss of future possibilities of her connecting with a ministry like HOH. When someone you love dearly dies so early in life you not only miss them, but you also miss what their future could have been.

God’s consistent faithfulness reminds me that He so wants each of us to fall into His arms and allow our burdens to be carried by Him. The light load I felt as I spoke to over 175 guests last week was not because I’m a seasoned guest speaker, but because He told me that He would speak through me. My responsibility for that evening was to simply show up. God does all of the heavy work if we allow Him. Not once has He asked me to carry a heavy load. It has been just the opposite, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…” Matthew 11:28-30 I am the one He has to remind about His promises.

I believe we are stretched the most during traumatic and emotional events in our lives. It is God reaching into the depths of our hearts insisting we trust Him and not allowing any other options to exist. He transforms our worlds through painful events and brings to our lives new dimensions and reminds us of whom we are in Him. When you are His child there is no escaping the shaping of our lives. He is intentional in all ways. His Love, His forgiveness, His grace, His mercy, His Holiness and His shaping.