Hope & Are You Sure?

It's about moving forward.

Hope Matters

I’m back, Hope Buddies! Thank you for your patience and understanding while I took a break. 🤗🫶🏾

So, we’re striving for healthy lifestyles over this way, and Son asked me a question about low-carb living. Now, I have a plethora of information about this subject. I’ve been living this way for at least 15 years (mostly). Well, I answered his question, and he asked me, “Are you sure?” If you’ve been reading my hopeletters for a while, you can imagine what happened next. He got every single one of the eyerolls, side eyes, and pursed lips I could muster.

What you need to know is, he does this to me all the time. He’ll ask me questions for which I have a precise answer then proceed to ask me am I sure. You also need to know I deeply despise this. Don’t ask me if you don’t like my answer, or it wasn’t as simple as you thought it’d be! 😒

After this happened, I asked myself, ‘How often do we do this to God?’ Talk about conviction, because I do this to God all the time, especially when it’s something I’m afraid or don’t want to do. I’m no better than Son. 🤦🏾‍♀️

God’ll tell me something to do and the way to do it, and I ask…

Are you sure ‘bout that, God? I mean…

At this point I commence with my excuses and rationalizations. I don’t want to believe He already knows what I should do, because it doesn’t feel good or easy or doable.

This entire situation challenged me like never before. How can I expect Son to listen to me about his life when I won’t listen to God about my own? (Insert eyeroll because I don’t like knowing this either.) Thus began my journey of stepping forward and trying to do what I’m asked without all the pushback. You’ll actually see one of my forward steps below, which I attempted FOUR times. Sheesh! I still didn’t get the result I wanted. But tuh-day, y’all are gon’ get what I did manage to finish. 😆

My point is this, Hope Buddies. We often talk about moving forward, but when it’s time to move we allow fear and questions to take over and stall us. So, what is that forward step you’re supposed to be making that you’re “just not sure about?” I want you to understand that you will almost never be sure. These things are supposed to scare us a little (sometimes a lot).

My hope for you today is that you’ll make even the teeniest move in that direction, so you can watch God do amazing things. Let’s do it together knowing God is holding us up.

Hope in God’s surety. ☕️

Coffee Matters

Okay, Coffee Buddies, I have two things for you all today. The first is my step forward. I got a new pour over dripper and made a video to show it off. It’ll be quick, ‘cause obviously I don’t know what I’m doing with this videoing thing yet. 😆 The Origami dripper from Slow Pour Supply Co. is super cute from a woman-owned brand, is the brewer of champions, and supports several nonprofit organizations. You can read more about the company here.

Now, about this coffee I told y’all I bought weekend before last at the farmer’s market. Let me tell you. When I sipped it, only two words came to mind: Saturday mornings.

Here’s a little background. Most weekday mornings, when I was a girl, my dad fixed us a hot breakfast before school. Mom cooked on weekends. On the occasional Saturday morning, when Mom was either out of town or had some other engagement, we got to eat cereal.

This cup was reminiscent of Cocoa Puffs mixed with Raisin Nut Bran. (Don’t ask. 🤭) The advice I got from the seller was the taste of the coffee would change as I let it cool. And I promise, the more I let it cool, the more Saturday morning it got. This Mill Street* from Northshore Specialty Coffee, a local roaster, exceeded my expectations. I was told it’s a blend of all their roasts, which means that the flavor of each distribution can be different depending on what their roasts are at the time. I can hardly wait to buy another bag and see what I get from that one.

I’ll keep y’all posted. So…

What are you hoping and sipping this week?

I appreciate you taking the time to read this hopeletter about my life and coffee. Please share with a friend who could use a little hope or coffee recommendation.

*I didn’t see the coffee on their website. Maybe if you reach out to them you can order a bag directly.