Flaws and all

God doesn't love me in spite of my flaws. He knows me. He created me. He loves me flaws and all. He knows when I am having a rough day, a day when I feel like noone is listening, He is.

I had one of those days recently. I expect that you might think I took the high road, stepped back, counted to ten, prayed to my Heavenly Father, read the Word and sang a praise song. I admit I did not (although I wish I had).

With each incident I became more and more irritated. I started snapping at my kids and my husband.

Then the shame sets in. Why was I acting like this? Why?! I tell myself it is because noone listens to me. Those always, never, and noone statements we all say to try and make our point. The ones that are not always full of truth. My statement was untrue. My Heavenly Father listens. He hears every word. The cries of joy, the wails of grief and pain, the whispers of defeat and sadness, He hears them all. And

Ps 56:8 NLT "You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book."

HE KNOWS. He knows every joy, fear, worry, hurt, kindness. Not only does He know, He has the answer.

I made a mistake. I let my emotions carry me away. We all have emotions, and they are not inherently wrong, but we can't allow ourselves to be ruled by our emotions. Sometimes we have to stop and press the reset button. What is your reset? How about the things I mentioned above? Distance, reading the Word of God, listening to praise music. Remembering and rehearsing God's promises. How about reminding ourselves to think on the good.

Phil 4:8 NLT "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."

But God doesn't condemn us. When we are "tested", when we start to lose ourselves in our emotions, know it can be a chance to grow.

James 1:3-5 "For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking."

Apologies made. Thoughts readjusted. Seeking wisdom. Sharing. Flaws and all.

What is Hope?

Amazing how routine makes me take things for granted. What is hope in my life? I use the word all the time. "I hope you feel better soon." "I hope the weather is better soon." "I hope I get what I want for my anniversary." (Notice I use it mostly as a verb.)

When my children struggle with a word meaning I point them to the dictionary. Mr. Webster and I had a consultation.

Hope - Noun - A feeling that what is wanted will happen; desire accompanied by expectation, the thing that one has a hope for, a reason for hope trust;reliance

verb - to expect, to look for, to want AND expect, to trust or rely;synonym-expect


Vine's defines it as favourable and confident expectation. It has to do with the unseen and the future. Romans 8:24-25 "We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope[a] for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.) Hope describes (a) the happy anticipation of good (the most frequent significance)

I started to think about confidence and hope and how they are linked. Where desire is accompanied by expectation. Wanting and expecting. Things that are unseen. Anticipation.

When I don't see the result I'm expecting, am I confidently patient? Ummm, honestly, not usually, more honestly - rarely. How else can confident hope be defined? FAITH