What God Revealed to Me About Hope

As the new year ended, and the new year dawned, I was still praying for God to share my word for this year. The theme for me to live out in 2021 revealed by God was “hope.” I wondered about this word because I feel I always have hope. Hope that things will get better, that God will bring goodness out of a bad decision, out of illness, out of pain. So I thought about what God wanted me to see in hope…how I could use this to bring glory to Him…and how to encourage others to embrace hope.

And as I read chapter 9 of One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp this morning, I began to wonder if she had a website with more info on seeing gifts. The website led me to read her blog and I found this wonderful blog about hope from December 21, 2020. Click here to read it, please! I know you will not be disappointed. I’m so delighted to have found this blog and intend stay connected.

Why have I never thought of hope as an action before? I’ve thought of it as something I have, but not as something I do! God is so patient with me. I’m still a work in progress.

The verse to supplement my living out hope is: “I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on Him. I have put my hope in His Word.” Psalm 130:5 NLT

As I move into setting up my planner with a vision board that I hope brings glory to God, I’m not only feeling hope, but anticipating living out this wonderful word. A word that will strengthen my faith and build my trust in God. And, so friends, I end my brief discourse on hope and turn to share the colors I’ve immersed myself in during this past week of deep gray skies.

This first picture I colored with Black Widow pencils and gel pens. My pencil sharpener decided to roll over and die and I barely finished the bright orange colored suit. So for the rest of the week, I resorted to other media until a new sharpener arrived. LOL!

This next one I colored with alcohol markers. I just love coloring in this book and seeing the beautiful results of a stained glass window.

This picture is the one I completed the first week of December but couldn’t reveal until the end of the month. It was so much fun to see how my two daughters colored the same picture. One did a beautiful pink dragon, and one did a very scary looking green dragon. I used markers, pastels, and stickles glitter on this one.

This picture I completed with the Gelly Roll Stardust glitter pens. It is the first picture in the same book as the Dragon Skies above.

And lastly, I worked on my diamond painting. This one is Fireside Christmas purchased from Diamond Art Club. It is a 22 inch by 22 inch (56cm by 56 cm) painting. For those who diamond paint, you’ll understand what I mean when I say it is nearly all confetti! I am not officially half-finished. Maybe I can actually hang it on the wall next Christmas.

And that is all my completed works for this past week. As 2021 unfolds, I wish you all the joy and peace that comes from living in hope! Until next week…keep believing.