Hope Street

In our town, we literally do have a street named Hope Street. Its a short street in a pretty small town. A lot of people go looking for hope in their lives.  Almost daily, I get to meet people who are in desperate need of hope and I long to be able to share with them, the hope that I have found. So many people are living with little or no hope in their lives. Life is tough for many. Life is hard. People are doing the best they can. But they are feeling quite 'hope less'. They are not hopeless.  Quite frankly, it took me a long time to find hope as I had chosen so many dead end streets and none of them were called hope. 

One day, I was particularly desperate about a personal situation that had endured for years. That day would mark the start of  change in my world. The pain of staying the same  became greater than the shame I  was carrying. I didn't want to carry it any more. And sometimes we have to do something different to get a different outcome. If I had not made a move to confess something shameful to God that day, the Hope Robber would have hounded me all the more. It was time I stood up to the beast that the Hope Robber is. 

Though you may not currently be going down a road in life that leads to hope, you can actually find hope in whatever street you are in. The hope I am talking about is in a Person. He is the God of Hope.

Fresh hope is available to all who will seek for it. Hope is such a powerful necessity in all our lives for without a better day and without the prospect of of hope, we can live colourless grey days. Can I encourage you to watch this very hope full clip from You tube. I hope you will dance :) 

                                         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV-Z1YwaOiw

Life at half mast

A long time has passed since the surgery and the Fair Maiden can barely remember it. Just as the Ugly duckling needed to understand who he really was, the Fair Maiden  was searching to know who she was. At that point, she did not really know what she was looking for. But she would do... when she found it.

It was to be many years before she  found out.

The revelation did not come overnight. In fact, it was a journey that took many years. There is a part of the story that  for the moment, needs to be covered but  not omitted. It does not have to be spoken about; just yet. The brokenness which ensued only months after the surgery, tells of a Fair Maiden who thought she had the answer to her questions. Instead, the pain of  her decisions led to living a life at half mast. Not living her true and authentic self. Too scared to really be who she knew she could be. Too broke and too far away from where the all the trouble started, made it easier to hide what was really going on for her. Looking back on that time, the Fair Maiden can see it didn't really matter where she lived because the problem was her heart and she carried that with her; everywhere she went.

Brokeness does funny things to people.Some people can let it go and move on; they are a hardy lot that can cut their losses. Others can medicate their pain with short term fixes like chocolate.Some will bury their brokenness in  hard work and achievements. But at the end of the day, they know they want to do something about the brokeness. Others look for a Saviour. This Fair Maiden found the latter. In actual fact, He found me. In finding me, He has helped me understand who I am as His daughter.

To be continued....

The Ugly Duckling Revisited

There once was a fair maiden however the maiden did not see herself as fair. She didn't see too much about herself that she DID like. She really didn't know who she was.. she was pretty lost... she also believed the lie that if she was pretty or popular, that she would have a happy life.  Then maybe she would know who she was. 

She was also carrying a secret. A fairly obvious secret. One that she did talk about.. sometimes...only with those who she thought would understand. A bit like Fiona in  Shreck... only a bit more obvious. Some didn't see her as a fair maiden...Jaws was one name and Monkey- face another. Funny Face or   'a freak of nature' were labels she gave herself.

So she got married and she STILL didn't know who she was. Oh yes she was a wife but she was more than that; surely?! And she was a nurse. Is that it? And she still didn't like who she saw in the mirror! 

So after years of planning, the time came for the surgery. She rubbed her hands in glee at the thought that finally she would be popular and happy and pretty. Then she would know who she was!!

To be continued....