Preparing for HOPE

Preparing for hope keeps the moments of “lifey life” from sucking your heart dry.

Listen to the GrowingHOPE Podcast all about Preparing for HOPE by clicking the play button.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Email | RSS | More

I Broke My Hope

The last four years have been utter chaos for my life.

It wasn’t working out and I was broken from all the much doing that wasn’t making it work.

Not only was I still trying to make it work the way they said, but I was replaying all of the things I should have done just in case the guilt from my struggles wasn’t heavy enough on their own.

As my dear, amazing, and life-altering friend, Laura Morlando, the Stress Commando, has shown me – I let people should all over me.

Others have encouraged me to find my way. Others have offered me tips on how to find the key to unlock all of my potential. But Laura kept pushing me to make it stupid simple and pull back more and more layers. Each time I thought I was there she would challenge me with a heart question. “But do you LOVE LOVE it,” she would ask.

I had to dig up all the things I had planted in my journey to be THEY approved – all the work, the expectations, the WORDS – until I found my place of LOVE LOVE it. When I hit that level of heartseed delight, I lit up like a Christmas tree.

I decided to prepare my way for hope – because I know with hope I can make a way to and through anything.

How do you prepare for hope?

• Sometimes you have to dig up the ground to prepare for hope.
• Other times you have to clear out the rocks.
• Always you have to find the right seeds for the ground.
• Always you have to take intentional actions to prepare for hope – it doesn’t happen by accident.
• Practice for hope  – And has to happen in a way that works for you (or you won’t work it).

Step One – Digging Up the Mess

It turns out that when you stop hoping and leaning into your unique design, and you try to do the fixing, you can make a mess. Or I did anyway. I had to get to a place of so broke that all I could do was start fresh.

But instead of just cleaning the slate and starting over, I went back to where it worked.

You know, “Go back. Go back. Go back to where you were.”

I used the Blue’s Clues finding method in combination with the Laura LOVE LOVE Alignment and I found hope.

But I had to let go of what I thought was supposed to be right – which included a lot of work, more than a few expectations, and a whole lot of words.

I couldn’t hold on to what was not working if I was going to grab on to the hope that would.

Sometimes you have to dig up the mess in order to get things right.

Step Two – Clear Out The Rocks

Did you know that when you focus on doing what they say, you build a lot of barriers for your journey?

I had scattered more rocks and boulders in my hope garden than I think were there when I first started. And I had let others throw in a few just to keep it interesting.

I picked up each one of them and examined them. If they were mine, I accepted them, learned from them, and then set them aside to build a wall to keep out the shoulds of others. If they were someone else’s, I threw them away.

I do not have to keep the shoulds of others and you don’t either.

With the removal of each rock, I could breathe a little easier. Sometimes all you need for hope to start growing is a good breath.

Step Three – Choose the Seeds That Work

I live in Alabama. There are some things I can plant and grow that won’t survive in Florida. There are things that won’t grow around here that will thrive in the tropics – no matter how much I WANT! Certain seeds thrive in certain soil.

When it comes to preparing for hope, I have to find the seeds that work for me.

I love bad dad jokes and Silly Songs with Larry. My husband loves 70s music and puppy videos. To each his own, but you have to know what lights you up so you can scatter those seeds in your hope garden.

Step Four – Take Intentional Actions for Hope

The only way you can prepare for hope is to make the choice for hope. Hope seeds can come from others and through others, but you are the only one who can plant hope in your life and for life.

Philippians 4:8 – 9 reminds us to think on things that are good, positive, encouraging, and uplifting and with that we choose hope.

It is that simple.

Intentional actions for hope start by choosing hope.

Step Five – Practice Hope

The most powerful way to prepare for hope is to practice hope in the little things. I start first thing in the morning before I get out of bed. “Lord, thank You for this glorious day.”

Before I review the weather.

Before I look at my to-do list.

Before I check the news.

Before I do anything, I thank God for the glorious day because it sets my day on a foundation of hope.

If anything disrupts my morning, I crawl back in bed and close my eyes for a few moments. Then I open them and start the day again with the same declaration. “Lord, thank You for this glorious day.”

Because I practice hope in the little things, I can find hope when circumstances declare it’s hopeless.

It has been a rough few years for our family, and there were times when I stopped hoping . . . almost completely.

But because I had been invested in preparing for hope for so long, I was able to find hope even through those darkest days.

Have you prepared for hope?

#QuoteoftheDay