Hope & Good Ideas

Is it a good idea or a God idea?

Hope Matters

Every good idea does NOT need action, because sometimes the ‘Well, we tried it,’ might kill you.

I wrote this note last year as a reminder to myself after a few trying months of attempting to implement a ‘good idea.’ At the end of it all, my team and I were exhausted and stretched thin.

Listen, Hope Buddies, good ideas are plentiful. They come to us quickly, and we often feel we need to act on them as quickly as they come. Well, we absolutely don’t! Let me just help you out here and save you some time.

It does us well to recognize the difference between a good idea and a God idea. I’ve had many good ideas, which I attempted to act on. Guess where they ended up? You guessed it. In the trash. 🗑️ Now, I’ve also had some God ideas, which I attempted to act on. Guess where they ended up? Tabled.

Not the answer you were expecting, huh? Well, here’s why. My experience has been that God ideas are initially exciting then frightening. Not horror-movie frightening but too-much-for-me frightening. When I’m all excited and attempt to act on God ideas in my own strength, they never work out like they should. When I let it sit and give God the opportunity to speak to my heart and allow that idea time to grow, it gets massive. And I end up looking at God like…

And He’s looking at me like…

As a matter of fact, you’re reading a God idea right now. Around 2011, an idea to start blogging was dropped in my spirit. Oh, I was over-the-moon excited! I got started right away, because I had so much time to write. Now, it was rolling good for a little while, and I had at least two blogs, because I thought I had so much to say and share with the world. But after a while, I began to struggle with content as well as consistency and themes. Well, these blogs sat dormant for years. Then, around 2022, I began to clean my mental house of all my life’s failures. Since I considered that one of them, I deleted all the blogs, believing these were just some ideas that didn’t go well and God never intended me to write.

Well, Hope Buddies, you can imagine what happened next, ‘cause God isn’t anything if He’s not humorous (at least in my life). I think — like any loving Dad — He gets a kick out of watching me try new things and falling off before He jumps in to explain it all and get me going on the right path. After taking them all down, the following year that idea came back around. However, it came at a time when, unlike before, I didn’t have all the time in the world to sit down and write, but this time He gave me a theme. And although I resisted the nudging, God was persistent, and the confirmation kept coming that this was a thing I should do. Then, I started coming with the excuses for why I shouldn’t. Well, obviously they didn’t work. *insert massive eyeroll*

Therefore, I’ve shown up for you all a little over a year now, as often as I am able. This is a labor of heart and love that I enjoy as often as I’m able to do it. So, Hope Buddies, I dropped in to encourage you to pay attention to the good ideas and don’t waste time trying to make them happen, if that’s all they are.

Lean into and be patient with the good ideas that are also God ideas. You will see them happen.

Coffee Matters

Coffee Buddies, I’m sharing a bit of my early morning personal life with you all this week.

Enjoy this Instagram video of post-pavement-therapy shenanigans with my walking buddy. For all the foolishness, it did end with coffee. Look for my reaction to what she was going to be sipping. 😆

What good idea have you had to release? What God ideas keep you going?

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.