in Choose Hope Today, Living Hope
Our family has finally moved back home after a seven month whole house renovation. PRAISE THE LORD! I’m not sure where I got the idea that this undertaking was a good idea with a four-year-old and a newborn, but my husband and I survived with relationship intact.
I had a team of loved ones who pitched in to help unpack the gobs of moving boxes when they were delivered from storage. In our haste to get all of the pots and pans, dishes, glasses, and breakables unleashed from their protective paper, everyone was unwrapping and then wadding the paper into a ball and throwing it back in the box it came from. While this was an efficient and quick means of getting everything in its place, it wasn’t ultimately the most effective. I now had the lonely task of pulling the paper back out, flattening it a bit to stack in the car, breaking down the boxes and hauling them to the recycling center. As I stood on the porch over the weekend working up the gumption to tackle this task, it struck me as a fitting metaphor for Living Hope.
You haven’t heard much from me in recent months on Living Hope. Much of this was attributed to my focus and attention needing to be with my children, acclimating to a new baby and navigating our temporary living situation. You might recall this post if you need a refresher on my mental state in this season. I’m so grateful to my partner and Project Manager, Kristin, and our Social Media Manager, Anna Carol, who has recently left us for a full-time position in the mental health field, for keeping all things Living Hope steady while I regained my focus and footing.
Next, you haven’t heard much from me in recent months because the building of Living Hope was a lot like those boxes on my porch. I felt called to speak to people losing hope and I desired to create a community of individuals who were actively practicing Hope, which I got so excited about. I reached out to talented individuals who knew how to build digital platforms like ours and we were off to the races. We were building Living Hope efficiently and quickly and we were churning out content that our audience was responding to enthusiastically. But, our core team suddenly realized that we hadn’t been building Living Hope effectively and we were getting feedback that we weren’t communicating our intentions as clearly. So, much like my task of emptying and breaking down those boxes, the Living Hope team tasked ourselves with sitting down and sorting things out.
We are thrilled to share that you will be seeing our newly refreshed site that is more easily navigable, but most importantly, it conveys our hopeful message more clearly.
Friend, at our core, we believe that no one should live in hopelessness and despair. Not even you.
That’s why we are dedicated to providing practical steps, resources and a supportive community to help individuals all over the world choose Hope in the midst of adversity.
In fact, I am so excited to tell you that in just a few days, we will be introducing This is Living Hope: 8 Practices to Help you Choose Hope in the Midst of Adversity. This beautiful digital workbook is a journey through the 8 Practices of Living Hope and an invitation for you to join us and Begin the Practice of choosing Hope in the midst of adversity.
We’ll also be introducing a newly monthly newsletter, This Is Living Hope, in which we will share a page from my Journal, Stories of Hope, Notes of Encouragements, practical ways to Choose Hope Today and more every month! If you haven’t already subscribed to our newsletter, I encourage you to do so now by filling out the form on the bottom of this page!
In the words of Lara Casey, a writer, entrepreneur, and fellow Chapel Hillian whom I admire: “It’s ok to grow slow.” So, we’re going to slow things down a bit here on our end and continue focus on the quality of our content and our engagement with you, dear reader.
You are loved!
Elizabeth