Happy Tuesday, Friends! I wanted to start out by saying thank you for all of your sweet messages regarding my last post. Many of you have been so sweet and encouraging as we launched our first shirt in our new shop and unveiled a new look to my blog. My husband, Dustin, and I loved working together to create a way to carry a piece of God’s truth with you wherever you go. I wanted it to be a sweet reminder each time you wear it of where your hope truly lies. I want to share with you why we chose Psalm 39:7. Maybe you will be able to relate, and it will have a special meaning to you, just like it does for us.
{Hope} has been a resounding word in our hearts always, but especially the last year and a half. A year ago, on New Year’s Eve, I wrote a blog post about what our year in 2015 had looked like. You can find it here. We had only a few short months before, suffered a miscarriage. We were also in the middle of daily seeking and praying if God’s will was for us to move into a new ministry in a town away from everything and everyone we loved. We had dealt with brokenness, fear, heartache, and we were beginning to wonder where our purpose lied.
There was one thing we did hold on to through out all of that change and moments of uncertainty: hope. Hope in a God who was greater than our sadness and grief. Hope in a God who was constant when the events of our life were not. Hope in a God who didn’t promise life would be easy, but said He would walk with us when it wasn’t. Our hope lied in Him.
{Hope} was also a word, or name rather, that I claimed shortly after miscarrying our baby in September of 2015. It was gut wrenching not knowing whether that baby was a boy or a girl, but I knew I wanted something to hold on to, if only for my own healing. During that time of healing and restoring I was brought to so many different places in God’s word that pointed to hope:
Psalm 39:7, Psalm 147:11, Romans 5:2-5, Romans 8:24-25, Romans 12:12, Romans 15:4
Those were just a few of them. There were so many! I am so grateful for the Word of God that holds true through every good and unpleasant thing that we may face.
When the time came to design our first shirt I knew I wanted it to have the word hope on it. Especially in this season of advent. Where waiting, anticipation, and HOPE are a theme. Dustin reminded me of Psalm 39:7, “But now, Lord, what do I look for? {My hope is in you.}”. It was a prayer we had prayed many times to God, and still continue to often. The sun rays are a sweet reminder of Psalm 30:5, “For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night,{but joy comes with the morning.}”. Each day is a fresh start. It may be a simple design but it means so much to us. A reminder of the God who holds our days in His hands. A reminder of our sweet baby who was only held by those same hands. A reminder for YOU that no matter what you face, or what your day may look like, our God is full of hope. He is the God who changes hearts, forgives, and knows each tear that is shed. And The greatest way He showed that was when He fulfilled the promise of sending His son Jesus to be the hope of the world.
My desire is that this will help you see more of the thought behind our first shirt. Yes, it’s just a shirt, but each one that we do has meaning behind it. And we want it to mean something to you as well.
Just a reminder, there are only TWO days left to purchase a shirt. Check them out here!