Today’s Dose of Hope
I was going to post this song for Valentine’s Day, then I made a big mess in the kitchen recreating the first meal I ever made for the fiancé (gluten-free pasta, homemade meatballs, vodka sauce, and broccoli) as a special Vday dinner for both my fiancé AND my roommate, and I didn’t post it…
So instead I’ll post it now, and we’ll enjoy it together. Because that’s how we do around here.
David Crowder Band – How He Loves Us
Then I’ll tell you why I’ve been gone for so long and what God’s doing about it.
XO,
Kim
Sunday Song: “You Love Me Anyway” by Sidewalk Prophets
I spent the first six years of my professional career doing marketing and publicity in the music industry, and for most of that time I thought that’s exactly how I’d spend the rest of my career. I love music, and I still think hearing a new song that speaks to your heart like only a song can is one of the most exciting things in the world. But a year and a half ago I left that job when it hit me that by working with popular hip-hop artists I was marketing a lifestyle of drugs, sex, violence, and money to teenagers, while going home and saying grace over my dinner table. In other words – my walk didn’t match my talk.
I wanted to start out in a new direction and work with hurting people to share all the things I’d learned about nutrition and caring for myself and help them find the healing that I’d found in Jesus. But seriously, you will never find a nicer and more creative group of co-workers than you will in the music industry, and I still like to take pieces of that experience with me wherever I go. And can we all agree that sometimes a really good song can bring just as much healing and hope as anything else?
Sidewalk Prophets is one of those bands that makes me want to run back to that industry and snatch up a job telling people how great they are, because “You Love Me Anyway” is a GREAT song. Of all the things we hope in (confidently expect) isn’t God’s love for us the number one thing? And at least for me, it can be the hardest thing to truly comprehend. My favorite part of this song starts right around 2-minutes in and says it better than anything I can share. (Plus, I think it’s the most perfectly timed chair kick ever.)
Sidewalk Prophets – “You Love Me Anyway”
If you’re up for a laugh and an awesome cover, check out their version of “Living on Prayer,” which is of course my favorite bowling alley song ever.
Today’s Dose of Hope: The Best Advice Ever?
I read this beautiful post by Ann Voskamp of A Holy Experience in an (in)courage email the other day called, ‘What a Parent Wants to Say Before a Child Leaves.’ I read it like three times. I could not stop. About halfway through the open letter to her teenage son there is a picture of a suitcase and a boy’s shoes followed by some of the best advice I’ve ever read. Like this:
And the only life worth living is the scandalous one: scandalous love, offensive mercy, foolish faith.
And this:
Be okay with not being liked: life’s about altars not applause. And be okay with not being seen or heard. It’ll let you hear and see better.
Have any of you read Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts? It’s been on my list for months, and her (in)courage post reminds me of how beautiful her writing style is.
I hope you’re all having a beautiful weekend.
Today’s Dose of Hope
This week I’ve needed an extra dose of hope, because I’ve been working reaaal long days with a reaaal long commute, which makes me a reaaal tired Kim. Add wedding planning on a teensy budget into the mix, and well… these are some doses of hope that I reaaally need right now.
This is one that came into my mind last night, right around the time I was laying in bed with visions of bridesmaid dresses (and their pricetags!) dancing in my head.
(Jesus) That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. – Matthew 6:25-34
This is another one I was reminded of just in time to drift into sleep…
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:6-7
My friend Karyn (hi!!) also shared this one today, and it’s a GREAT reminder of how we can wait and trust in God’s love and provision.
Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
Psalm 27:14
And I woke up to an awesome email from my friend Julie (hi!!) with this verse in it:
The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. -Psalm 28:6-7 ESV
My friends always make me happy. How great is God that He uses the people in our lives to share encouraging words when we need them? I hope you’re all having a day full of hope!
Sunday Song: “Lord, I Need You” by Chris Tomlin
The band played this song in church today, and as I was singing along I couldn’t help but feel like, “Yep. That pretty much sums up my life.” My favorite part is when Chris Tomlin says,
And when I cannot stand, I’ll fall on you. Jesus, you’re my hope and stay.”
The last blog post was really hard for me to write, because I don’t really know how to say all the things that God is teaching me right now about hope. I think maybe that one line says it better than anything I said on Thursday.
I couldn’t find an official video, but this one also shows the lyrics which are of course my favorite part.
“Lord I Need You” – Passion (Chris Tomlin)
Today’s Dose of Hope: Even More on Hoping in the Word
Hi, everyone! I’ve been thinking more about why the Psalmist (David?) says…
I wait for the Lord, I expectantly wait, and in His word do I hope. – Psalm 130:5 (AMP)
And what else that means. One of the things I love to be reminded about the Word is that when we hope in it, we’re not just hoping (living with confident expectation) in the things God has said – His unbreakable promises that apply equally to each of us. We’re also hoping in Jesus himself.
The book of John opens by telling us that the Word was with God and the Word was God and that the Word came to be with us. Sometimes it’s a lot for my little human mind to wrap around, especially because it’s more poetic than everyday language. But as best as I can understand it John’s saying that in a nutshell, the Word has everything to do with Jesus and that all of the things we hope in existed before the world was even created.
In other words, when God gives us a promise, it’s not something He intends to keep. It’s something that has already been done. He’s already seen it happen. We can count on Him. Taken as one big giant saga, the Bible is God’s 66-book series about what He’s planned and worked out for us since the beginning, and it all hinges on Jesus – our Savior who has always been with God and has always been God. Who came to show us how big God’s love for us is and to sacrifice Himself so that we can be totally forgiven and righteous in God’s eyes forever even while we’re still working it out on earth. And there’s a whole lot more to that, which is why I’m so excited to learn more about The Word and what we place our hope in.
[Greg Laurie's Essentials does a really great job of explaining all of these things that I find super awesome to learn about but super difficult to put into words.]
I’ve been reading this over and over today:
In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it…He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’”
From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
- John 1:1-5,10-18 (NLT)
Jesus reveals God to us. And Jesus offers a lot to hope in. So when we hope in the Word we don’t just hope in the promises God’s made and the things that will come to pass. We hope in the reality of what He’s already accomplished. We hope in the reality of a God whose love is so big that He paid the ultimate price to allow us to be forever reconciled to Him – so we would see that His plans for us are truly good. We hope in a God who took on the worst suffering so that our suffering is only for a short time. And we hope in a God who never planned it any other way.
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure… And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. – Colossians 1:4-5,10 (NLT)
Awesome, right?
Work has been crazy with a capital C this month, so I’ve been averaging less posts a week than I’d like. But I’m going to keep plugging away and hoping with you guys. Who knows? Maybe things will even slow down once the wedding invites are out (we ordered them last week!) and the wedding website is officially up (eek, exciting!). I’m also going to post our engagement photos, taken by my wonderful roommate, on Facebook soon. Sometimes I can’t believe the fiance and I will officially be married in less than 7 months. I hope you’re all having a blessed day!
A Sunday Song: “Starry Night” by Chris August
Hello! Happy Sunday! Did any of you watch the Broncos vs. Patriots game? Ouch!
The fiance has made a football fan of me in the past few months, and even more he’s made me a Tebow fan! If you’d asked me a year ago if Steph and I would ever spend a Saturday night watching football while I visited her, I would have thought you were crazy. And now we’re hopping up and down like seasoned fans and cheering on our favorite quarterback while complaining that the offensive line didn’t eat their Wheaties.
What has become of us?
On a completely different note, I want to share one of my favorite songs right now. I first noticed this song in the fiance’s car as we drove between Brooklyn (where I live) and Queens (where he lives) late one night this summer. I can listen to the acoustic version over and over and not get over how beautiful the chorus is. I love it. I’ll let it speak for itself…
Chris August – Starry Night
I’m giving my life to the only One who makes the moon reflect the sun. Every starry night, that was His design. And I’m giving my life to the only Son who was and is and is yet to come. Let the praises ring. He is everything.
The album version is faster and has a full band.
I hope you’re all having a great Sunday!
Today’s Dose of Hope: Hoping in the Word
Hello hopers! I have missed blogging regularly during the holidays. But while I wasn’t posting much, I was polishing a project I’ve been working on for a couple weeks (months?) now related to Doses of Hope. Last year I was talking a lot about this verse:
I wait for the Lord, I expectantly wait, and in His word do I hope. – Psalm 130:5 (AMP)
I think it’s a really important one. It says a lot about life in that one little sentence and what it means to be a follower of Christ, what it means to wait in whatever area we’re waiting (health, career, relationships, etc), and what it means to live a life of hope. One ripe with expectation.
I also love that it establishes how we wait: with hope in God’s Word. God’s Word is of course His breath on the page. His divine revelation to us so that we’re not fumbling through this world all alone in the dark, trying to figure it out as we go. God straight up tells us through Paul’s letter to Timothy that every word in His Word is not only divinely inspired (“God-breathed” as the New International Version tells us), it is useful in teaching us what is true, helping us realize what is wrong, and equipping us to do good.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT)
God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. - Hebrews 6:17-19 (NLT)
“No promise is of private interpretation: it belongs not to one saint but to all believers. If, my brother, thou canst in faith lie down upon a promise and take thy rest thereon, it is thine… Come, weary one, use thy LORD’s words as thy pillows. Lie down in peace. Dream only of Him.” – C.H. Spurgeon
I wait for the Lord, I expectantly wait, and in His word do I hope. – Psalm 130:5 (AMP)
A false faith can only float in smooth water, but true faith, like a life-boat, is at home in storms. If we cannot believe God when our circumstances appear to be against us, we do not believe Him at all. We trust a thief as far as we can see him; shall we dare to treat our God in that fashion? – C.H. Spurgeon
Ooh, that quote is challenging! My friend posted it on Facebook a week or so ago, and it matched up perfectly with what I was reflecting on for 2011 and my first One Word experience. When I first got very sick with late stage Lyme Disease, Bartonella, and Babesiosis in early 2008, my instinct was to ask “why me?” Through the two years of my treatment and journey to health as I like to call it, God taught me not to ask “why me?” but to ask “who is He?” instead. In other words, He showed me that I could put my hope in Him through all the hard things that this broken world offers up.
Buuuuut, I’m a slow learner. And when I got sick again with Lyme Disease, after celebrating my return to health by traipsing through the Everglades, I found myself pouting once again and asking, “God, why me?!” He allowed that for all of one day before He told me once again, “I can take care of this. Calm down and trust in me.”
Since then He’s allowed more than enough opportunities for me to put trust into practice. I suppose I asked for it when I chose “TRUST” as my One Word for 2011. I had an angry gallbladder through the first month of the year. Then I got Bartonella once again – this time through cat scratch fever – and my immune system freaked out so badly that my entire body was on fire for 4 months. Then last week I came down with what I thought was a stomach flu, then feared was appendicitis, and turned out to be an inflamed intestine. The whole ordeal landed me in the ER twice when my fever broke but my gut kept getting bigger and bigger and more painful by the day.
The good news is this: through all of these things, God was with me. He protected me. And He kept me from harm.
When my gallbladder was acting up, I was scared. I was home alone for a month, snowed into my apartment after a giant blizzard, and not sure what was going on. When I finally figured out that I was having gallbladder attacks, well meaning people told me I would definitely need to get it taken out and my new family practitioner wasn’t sure what to do. I’m not going to lie – I did a lot of crying out to God on this one. And He provided when a friend recommended a Chinese herbal product that his Naturopath prescribed him (GB6 by Health Concerns, which has to be prescribed by a Dr. or Naturopath and can be ordered through Willner Chemists) and nutritional healing tips on gallbladderattack.com. It took a month, but the ultrasounds showed that my gallbladder didn’t need to come out and I learned a lot about caring for my digestive system in the process.
Then the Bartonella hit. This time I was slow to recognize I was sick, because the last time I had aches and pains I’d jumped to conclusions, taken antibiotics against Dr.’s orders, and caused the gallbladder issue in the first place. So it was only after two weeks of major inflammation through every joint in my body, when my entire gut felt like it was on fire, that I found the big purple circle on my leg around a still healing cat scratch and realized, “Shoot… I have cat scratch fever.” I found myself back in my LLMD’s office and back on antibiotics for the next 3 months. And to be honest with you, it was very scary.
My immune system responded with guns blazing, which put me in a whole lot of pain for a whole lot of months, and my gallbladder rejected several of the antibiotics. Once again, I found myself crying out to God for a whole lot of healing.
I wouldn’t want Bartonella for a third time if my life depended on it. But God used the ugly situation for good, even when it was painful. During those four months, I remembered what it was like to have that much pain throughout my whole body. That was the kind of pain I’d lived with for years. And I was completely blown away by how far God had taken me in the year before that. This time, the pain felt foreign. It was scarier because I knew just how “not normal” it was, which meant I knew what it was like to feel better than that – and that in itself was a huge blessing.
God also used that experience to remind me to lean on Him and to remind me that I couldn’t put my hope in anyone but Him. I was scared of how I was feeling, and anyone who knows me well will tell you that I HATE to be alone when I don’t feel well. I like to think that God wired me this way. He put me in the womb with someone else, and He knows that even during my “alone” times I like to know there’s someone in the room next door. But this time the fiance was swamped with PhD-ish things and my roommate was never home. So I found myself frequently alone and learning to go to sleep knowing Jesus was by my side.
And when I found myself in the middle of nowhere on a roadtrip from New York to Ohio with a sudden flare up, Jesus was there. And when I was in so much pain that I thought I could never get on a plane to Napa Valley, Jesus walked me onto that plane and into one of the best vacations I’ve ever had. And somewhere along the way He inspired doses of hope when He reminded me of all He’s done in my life, how far He’s taken me, and the promises He still has in store.
I learned that when I picked One Word for 2011 and committed it to God, He responded. It wasn’t always easy but boy did He show me just how much I could trust Him. Right down to the last week of the year, when He kept me from appendicitis and once again walked me onto a plane while I was still feeling less than my best (one of my least favorite places to be) and delivered me safely to the other side.
God still has a lot to teach me about trust, and I’m positive this year will be another big year of growth if I’ll let it. It’s tempting to pick trust as my One Word again, but I already know that God has another word in mind for me this year (coming soon!).
p.s. A big thank you to my friend Josh for posting the C.H. Spurgeon quote on Facebook!
p.p.s. Here’s the new One Word site for 2012!
Today’s Dose of Hope: God Rescues
On our way toward the mountains yesterday, outside Denver, Colorado
He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us… – 2 Corinthians 1:10 (NIV)
And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. – 2 Corinthians 1:10 (NLT)
I’ve used this verse before in a dose of hope. The New Living Translation says God “rescues us” (written as “delivers” in the New International Version). And the NIV translation says we set our hope on Him that He will continue to do so. Yesterday God rescued the fiancé, his mom, and me from and icy mountain road, and I saw this in bright, scary, God-t0-the-rescue living color.
It all started when we piled into the fiance’s mom’s Honda CRV and drove up to Estes Park, outside Denver, Colorado. It was super beautiful and exciting to this New York City girl who was born and raised in the flat Midwest. I was so in awe of the mountains that we decided to take the “scenic route” back before the severe weather warning that was scheduled for that night took effect.
Just five minutes into our trip we came to a curve in the road that was covered in ice. An SUV two cars ahead of us slammed on the breaks, the car in front of us slammed on the brakes, and we slammed on the brakes. And then we started slipping. First toward one edge of the road, them toward the other. The more the fiancé tried to control the car, the more we skated all over the road.
We weren’t on a super steep edge, but we were definitely on a mountain curve, and the fiancé’s mom and I were more than a little scared. We were slipping and sliding everywhere each time the fiancé even gently pressed the gas, and the brakes were useless. It was clear the CRV’s tires were no match for the huge sheet of ice. My heart was seriously skipping beats at this point. To make matters worse, several oncoming cars tried to make it through the curve only to lose control and skate helplessly within inches of our car.
The fiancé’s mom and I started praying. Almost as soon as I said, “God, please help us!” a giant police SUV came around the bend, and I waved the cop down. He slowly turned around, turned on his lights to warn the other cars, who were sitting back and watching us weave all over the place, and helped us gently maneuver backward off of the ice and away from the curve to dry ground, where the fiancé did a quick U-turn and headed back to town. We decided against the scenic route at that point!
I’ve never been more excited to see a police officer in my life. If that cop hadn’t shown up in the nick of time there definitely would have been several of us stuck on the ice, and in all likelihood it would have turned into a serious case of bumper cars with no one going anywhere except over one of the slopes on either side of the curve. I had no doubts when that giant police SUV showed up that God had heard our prayers, breathed just seconds before. And that He came to our rescue!
Another car, left by the driver to wait out the receding flood waters on Miami Beach (June 2010)
It reminded me of an incident two summers ago, when Steph and I were caught in a flash flood on Miami Beach. It went from normal summer rain to crazy black sky and flooded streets in about 2.5 seconds flat. Before we knew it, our friend’s tiny two-door car was stalled and floating like a canoe as the water was rising.
Again, people were freaking out. But as soon as we started praying a monster truck sized tow truck plowed through the water. I started knocking like crazy on our windows, and the driver stopped and pulled us out first (but not before mouthing “pay me $100″!). Like yesterday we had no doubts that God had heard our prayers and sent a rescuer right in time.
When I looked up “rescue” in the Bible, I found these verses…
“He reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters. – 2 Samuel 22:17 (NLT)
But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, the Lord raised up a rescuer to save them. – Judges 3:9a (NLT)
I talk a lot about how God rescued me from illness and trials and all sorts of other things. But it’s kind of crazy how many times God has rescued me from mortal danger, drawn me out of deep waters, or raised up a rescuer to save me… probably more times than I can remember. Both times we spent the rest of the day laughing at how crazy the situation was and praising God for literally pulling us out in the nick of time. And taking lots of pictures. Because I never fail to get myself into some sort of crazy mess every time I go on a new “adventure”… and God never fails to pull me out!
