Hope Victorious

  It is natural to begin the new year with thoughts of goals, hope and expectation. It is natural too for that hope to be mixed with a degree of apprehension. Often it feels like there is more that is unknown about a year than what is known. I think that our comfortability with the unknowns is part of why it is common to begin a new year with resolutions or intentions. While we know that we cannot see the future or fully anticipate all that will happen in the coming year, we can feel some sense of security in know what we plan to focus on, hope to accomplish and set as our goals or purposes. Setting goals or making resolutions for the new year assumes that you have some measure of motivation and joy as you begin the year. I recently listened to a message by Steve Backlund and was challenged by his call to begin the year with hope. I consider myself to be a hopeful person. I try to focus on what is going well and allow that to encourage me in the places where I am tempted to becom...

  Courage is mine and so is faith. They are alive and personal, burning from within. Both have roots in my past, in my experience, belief and understanding. But both extend into my future where I cannot yet know or fully understand. They are at once both mystical and solid. Courage and Faith are sure and steadfast enough to stand on, but yet also misty, transparent and unable to touch or hold. They are difficult to define. Courage is grounded in all I’ve conquered; the risks taken, rewarded and enjoyed. Courage builds, gains speed and strength from the past and moves me into my future. Courage shines light and hope on the challenges that I now face. Faith has a history in past victories, but it is anchored in my future. Faith is a rope I hold and cling to. Faith is mine, but faith in not inside of me like courage is inside of me. My faith is in God and I hold it like a rope because all I need flows through that connection. Faith calls me into my future. Faith whispers to me of what...

Courage in me is like a fire A pillar of red-hot coals and burning flames that dance and swirl I feel its heat Strength – determined, resilient strength I will not be overcome I will remain. I will fight. I will speak out. I will stand and take ground. I will remain. Courage Grows I have been tested I have seen horror, lived through unspeakable pain I have held on by a thread and found a way to hope I have come to the end of myself When the fire inside is only a dim coal buried in ash Where it would seem that I had been bent too far; now broken – All the voices shouted surrender and the future was grim The voice of courage was a whisper – a smoldering and hidden coal A thin strand to my future A remembrance of faith A pull to something greater A plea for help breathed life into me Ignited the coal of courage Fanned it into flame And gave me a view of my future and a view of myself The fire of courage returned in power and strength Strengt...

  I have always been a writer. I enjoy writing. I have journaled, written poetry, speeches, essays, reflections and narratives. I have always loved to write. As a young girl one of my dreams was to write children’ books. In college I wrote poems regularly as a way of processing the conflicting emotions and changes in my life. I wrote my book over the course of more than 7 years and for the first few years I wouldn’t have said I was writing a book.  I was just writing. I have always written; it just flows naturally. Even when I wasn’t trying to write on a regular basis, I would write and tuck poems, reflections and stories away in journals and notebooks. It was during the time that I was working on my book that I began to understand the transformation that was taking place inside myself. I was realizing that I had a message to share through my writing and that writing was more than something I could do , it was a part of who I AM . It is one of my purposes,   part of the...