Finding Hope When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned

Published by Leslie Newman Hope 9 comments

Does life look different than you though it would? Are you facing fear and doubt? Take a peek inside this true adoption story to find a living hope!

Today I’m delighted to share a post with you written by my friend, Lori Schumaker. Lori shares an incredible story of love and hope inside the pages of her book, Surrendered Hearts. If you are journeying through a difficult situation that is not turning out as you expected, you’ll find that you are not alone when you read the book or take a peek at parts of her story below.

Today Lori is sharing her own true story that points to our real source of hope when life doesn’t go as planned – Hope that came to us in the form of a tiny baby, born in a manger so long ago. It’s Jesus’ love that reached out clear across the world to bring a family together. And this is the love that reaches out to you today, no matter where you are, no matter what you are facing.

From Lori’s post: “Hope is something we cannot live without. In order to walk through this life, we must believe in what may come and we must believe in the good that is just around the next corner. Without hope, we don’t find joy nor do we experience peace. Without hope …

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How to Find Hope That Will Not Disappoint You

Published by Leslie Newman Hope 18 comments

Hope can be hard to find in difficult times, but there is one kind of hope that will not disappoint. Find out more here!

What do you think of when you think of the word hope? A dream, A wish? Me too, until recently. My definition of hope has changed. Yesterday, hope used to mean that something good would happen and my current difficult situation would go away or get resolved. Yesterday, hope was something that I “hoped” would happen and just kept waiting for. It was a wish for better times. This kind of hoping led to disappointment. But today hope means something different. It’s trust – trust in a God who never changes and who does what He says He will do.

Click below to find five things that will help you discover hope that does not disappoint.

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7 Verses for When You Need Hope

Published by Leslie Newman Hope 22 comments

When life is difficult, hold on to these seven verses full of hope for you!

Times are hard, and life can be beyond difficult. Sometimes it can leave us feeling overwhelmed, perhaps even feeling hopeless. But no matter what circumstances you woke up to this morning, there is a promise of hope. Click below to read more and find seven Bible verses you can hold on to when hope seems far away!

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Grace and Peace for Your New Year

Published by Leslie Newman Claiming Scriptures, Hope 14 comments

How could our new year be different if we understood the fullness of God’s grace and peace? His kind of grace changes everything! Find out more by clicking through!

Grace to you and peace be multiplied. This greeting from the apostle Peter just leaps out to me on this New Year’s Day. It’s such a good verse for new beginnings and hope for the new year, isn’t it? It’s full and rich just as it is, but if we look into the Greek root words we’ll find even more!

Did you know that the word grace in this verse comes from the Greek word xáris? This kind of grace refers how God is always leaning toward us freely giving Himself away to us because He wants to be with us.

The word peace comes from the Greek word eirḗnē, and it means “wholeness.” It refers to all the essential parts being joined together. Peace is God’s gift of wholeness.

The word multiplied comes from the Greek word plēthýnō, and it means made full to maximum potential.

How would our new year be different if…

Click below to read more! Find out what we’ll be doing this year at Journey to Imperfect!

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When Grace Appeared

Published by Leslie Newman Powerful Bible Verses 6 comments

God’s grace works well, his kindness is endless, His fullness is poured out upon us from the outstretched hands of a tiny baby.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14

Grace. The Word born to life and living among us, a tiny baby born in an insignificant village, living His life in humble surroundings. He was God’s finest gift, treasured like you and me, held in His Father’s arms and close to His heart.

But one night, God leaned low. He bent down to earth and set that baby in a manger, in a small and insignificant village, in lowly and humble surroundings. It was a moment of grace lived out from the heart of our Father God who loved us enough to give us His only Son.

Can you feel God leaning down, holding that baby in His arms, all the while knowing that He would die for you and me? And yet still …

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From the Manger to the Cross: Finding True Identity

Published by Leslie Newman Identity 8 comments

There is a deep love for you and me and a God who sent His Son to earth as a tiny baby so we could understand it. In seeking His face from the manger to the cross, we can understand our true identity.

{Guest Post at www.LoriSchumaker.com}

I looked into those precious baby blue eyes. They seemed to peer right into my soul. We had just come home from the hospital, and I was having my first few moments alone with my sweet baby girl. I just couldn’t quit looking into her face, and as her eyes were searching mine, they seemed to be looking straight into my soul. I felt something I had never felt before, a love deeper than I had ever known, something that cannot be put into words. As I rocked her back and forth, I remember wondering at a love like that. It came to me at that moment, just a little whisp of a thought that flickered through my mind, “This must be how God loves me. I understand it better now.”

That was over 20 years ago. In most of those 20 years as I raced through the responsibilities of being a mother and wife in those child-raising years, the joy and wonder of the kind of love that God wanted me to understand became dulled until I could barely see it.

But one day I heard the Lord calling me back…..

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Give Hope to the Hurting – Share Your Scars

Published by Leslie Newman Identity 32 comments

Your story has a purpose, and sharing it will make a difference in ways you can not imagine! Click through to find courage and hope for you and others in a story only you can tell!

{Guest Post by Lori Schumaker}

The other night I sat across the table of a group of women. Remarkable women.

All beautiful and all with scars.

These are real everyday kind of women. The kind that smile and give you hugs when you see them. The kind that laugh at the funny stuff, shake their heads at the nonsense, sit with a friend in need, and love their people like crazy. They are also the kind that push themselves each day, run late, miss deadlines, yell at their kids, get irritated behind the wheel, and cry.

Real everyday kind of women.

Each of them have a story uniquely theirs. In each there is much good, yet in each there is pain.

Pain

… from loss and from gain.

… from lack and from abundance.

Pain that comes simply from the fallout of the sin and brokenness of our world.

Each has a story and each has hope.

*Click below to read more of this guest post by Lori Schumaker. Find hope and purpose in your own story!!!

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Three Ways to Fight Spiritual Attacks on Your Marriage

Published by Leslie Newman Relationships 7 comments

Facing spiritual attack in your marriage? Click through to find out three ways to fight back!

This week I’m so happy to be guest posting at my friend, Beth Stephaniak’s blog, Messy Marriage. Beth is doing a series on spiritual warfare in marriage and this post is part of that series. You’ll find a sneak peek of the article below. You can click through at the end to go to Beth’s blog to read more. While you are there, take a look at all her marriage helps and her subscriber’s library. You’ll find much encouragement there!

Here’s a peek at the article where you can find three ways to fight back when the enemy attacks!

Marriage is under attack today in so many ways. One avenue of attack that is easy to overlook happens within the spiritual realm. Without a doubt, Satan wants to weaken and destroy marriage, and this means we will face spiritual attacks in our marriages at one point or another. Fortunately, we have a God who is infinitely more powerful than the enemy who fights against us. We have a God who protects us (Proverbs 18:10), and gives wisdom (Proverbs 2:6-7), strength (Psalm 73:26), and guidance (Psalm 32:8).

The three areas below may be places to go for insight and discernment to help you fight spiritual battles within marriage. In each area below, there is a verse from the Bible that you can pray or repeat out loud to help bring the truth and power of God’s Word into your life and marriage.

Click below to read more or head on over to Beth’s blog at www.messymarriage.com!

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How to Encourage a Friend During Difficult Times

Published by Leslie Newman Relationships 16 comments

Are you looking for ways to encourage a friend? Click through for some creative ideas!

Have you ever felt at the end of your rope? Me too, and when I’ve been open enough to tell a friend, there is almost always is encouragement there to keep me hanging on. I’ve been the receiver of so many thoughtful little things over the years.

Below is a little list of the some of the things others have done for me and a few that I have done for others. Some are things that you’d instantly think of when you know you have a friend in need, and perhaps a few in the list below will give you new ideas.

Click below to read more and find {Free Printables!}.

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A New Kind of Peace

Published by Leslie Newman Identity 20 comments

There’s a peace waiting just for you. It’s so full and rich and beyond what you can imagine. Join me today to find out more.

I sat in the stillness of the early morning with a new kind of peace. It came from deep inside, quiet, strong and sure.

It was a long time coming, this new kind of peace. It had always been there waiting for me, but every time it tried to come out of its hiding place, it was beaten back into the recesses of my heart by an enemy bent on blinding me to it.

My new kind of peace was strong though. It was patient and knew how to wait for me. My new kind of peace never gave up and was steady, not changing with the ebb and flow of my emotions. My new kind of peace understood me better than I understood myself. And it accepted the other one and felt their pain. My new kind of peace was not mine at all. It was His.

It was all about my identity.

Over the years I had found my identity in all sorts of things, good grades, awards and activities, my jobs, my relationships, being a wife and mother, and sadly, even in my mistakes and failures. The ups and downs associated with any of those things tended to dictate my level of peace and happiness. The truth was, the messiness of the ebb and flow of my emotions left me feeling at a loss most of the time. And very much far away from the peace I was seeking.

But that fact was conveniently folded away like an unnecessary piece of paperwork, tucked away into a sliver of a place where my heart could not dwell on it but always felt its presence. I didn’t want anyone to know. And it weighed on me.

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