Coffee and Hope

호프

Korean phonics and English phonics are two fairly differently things.  There are some commonalities and both languages are very open and easily acquire new words.

Then there is hof.  Or hope because there isn't an 'f' sound in Korean so it phonetically pronounced as a 'p'.

Most places if the word is romanized it is spelled hof, but I saw this place, which is on my way to walk to church and I had to take picture to note the more accurate spelling of the word in English...

So what exactly is so interesting about hof or hope?  

Hof or hope is the Korean word for bar.

Coffee and Hope sounds like a Christian ministry.  In fact it sounds like all the hours I spent at coffee shops in college ministering and being ministered to in the love and hope of Jesus.  We shared in the caffeine lift to the body and the Holy Spirit lift of the heart and spirit.  As one friend and I half-way joked, and half-way said seriously that the coffee shop was where we "did" church before we went to church.

For all the irony of the way the Korean word for bar is pronounced, I am not going on a tirade against drinking. In fact, I enjoy a drink or two, but rather my take away is this:

Where do I find hope?  How does hope alter my life?

May the God of all hope fill you with joy and peace, in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope ~ Romans 15:13

Therefore since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.                     ~ Romans 5:1-5

I'm mulling over what these passages talk about hope.

God is the God of hope and He pours it out on me.    

Hope is the product of suffering, endurance and the growth of character.  

Hope is in the glory of God.  Him being magnified.

No matter what else I glean from the hope spoken of in the Bible: This is the all-encompassing hope.  It is not dependent on circumstances, or another broken, sinful human being.  It rests on Jesus.  The one who took an enemy of God, paid for salvation with His blood, justified a sinner who would rather go their own way, redeemed a heart broken by a Cruel and Deceptive Master, brought me into His kingdom with all the rights of a citizen and adopted me into His own family with all the inheritance and love of a Daughter.

So every morning as I drink my coffee, whether at home or tucked away in the corner of a coffee shop, alone, or gathered with friends, I'll be resting on Hope...God's full hope.

Lord of Hosts

Yahweh of Hosts.  The name used in Genesis to describe the Creator.

I've been stuck on this title of God for over a week.  Partly because I don't think I had read a ton of old testament lately, where this title occurs, in a translation that uses this title rather than Lord Almighty.

I knew that Lord Almighty translates to Yahweh, but Lord of Hosts gives me a different, more vivid picture.  Like this definition from Biblosdotcom

Evidently the meaning of the title is that all created agencies and forces are under the leadership or dominion of Yahweh, who made and maintains them. It is used to express Yahweh's great power.

 All created agencies and forces under His leadership...

Jaw-dropping visualization:  The forces of heaven and earth at His command.  Waiting on His word; ready to go battle for the Kingdom, with Him at the front.  I envision the fierceness, riding in on a the white horse of Revelation or the red horse of Zechariah 1.

And this picture puts my heart at rest.  Realizing the Lord of Hosts has gone to battle for me, returning from Hades with the keys...  And He continues to battle Satan and His forces for the salvation and redemption of every one of His creations.

Dreaming

Dreaming, seeking, wondering...

I keep thinking about what I want to see made a reality.  Things that have been on the list of impossible for years.  What I pray for that no one else knows.

My fingers trace over the words and names on a worn piece of notebook paper.  The cries of my heart.

I see them in my mind, I treasure them in my heart.  The promises of the One who never fails.

Terrifying and exhilarating is the knowledge that new prayers, dreams must be added.  They are bigger than the ones already on that list.  And God is the one inviting me to draw near and ask.

I want what HE wants.  Arising from the things that break His heart and that He has broken my heart with.

When and how are not mine to know.

I ask for the what, dream for the what, and trust God.

The God who made a 100 year old Abraham, and a 90 year old Sarah parents to the Nations.
The God who parted waters.
The God who lead in a whirlwind.
The God who defeated sin and death.
The God who promised life!

Dreaming...with the hope that if God drew me, redeemed me and is transforming me...He'll make good on His word.

Day 6: Jaded Beauty

Day 6 of 31.  Back at this series of posts on Beauty.

Has the world's definition of beauty ever jaded you?

I wasn't sure if jaded was the right word: worn out, broken.

But in considering the way that I lived my life in relationship to beauty, primarily as the world defined it

SOOO JADED...

The world's definitely wore me out and that was on top of the fact that I was already broken.  I was so worn out that I didn't even want to try.  So I didn't.  I remember that as a middle schooler I wore t-shirts two sizes bigger than I currently wear now (I was about 10 pounds heavier then...but really, I hid in my clothes)  And until college, I thought make-up was only for those women who were trying to hard.

Only as I started getting healing and restoration have I been able to embrace beauty in myself.  I can accept that I will never catch up to the world's definition of beauty.  But now I try, I try to accentuate the design God has given me.  I'm no fashionista but I have taken some tips on clothing, make-up and personal care.  I've asked the Holy Spirit to teach what it is to be adorned by a quiet and gentle spirit.  I can look in the mirror without cringing or searching critically for flaws.

I'm not worn out by chasing after an ever changing definition. Instead, I rest in God's definition of beauty.

Embracing Beauty

Five minutes of unedited (okay maybe I should admit to a few minuscule edits) writing on a topic.  This week's topic:

Beauty

GO:

Why am I not surprised? Well actually I'm chuckling.

Beauty has emerged in the last few months as something God really wants to talk to me about.

It is about how much He loves me and that He designed me.

The wierd thing is, I had settled somewhere in my mind that one didn't have to find themselves beautiful to appreciate beauty.  That may sound vain but what I am getting at is this:

The more I come to see and understand the beauty God made me with, the beauty He is restoring in the broken places, the more I see and embrace beauty in others.  Because I see with more clarity the very glory and beauty of God in things and especially in God's image bearers.

STOP

Designed with Destiny

I thought my chances were 1 in 200 but actually there was never a doubt.

It was destined.

I saw them hold up the package.  And there was a whisper, "This one."

Designed

[di zin] : intend something for particular use: to intend something for a particular purpose. Intended, meant, bound for, aimed at, predestined, preordained.

Being a created being, design is essential.  Each piece carefully selected and intended for a particular look and purpose.

What shakes me is that if this is true...doubting my beauty or choosing invisibility is separating me from my Creator.  It's the denial of His workmanship.  It isn't worship...it is sin.

Embracing my design leads me forward out of invisibility and into greater intimacy with God as I seek after and He reveals the parts of me that I've not always wanted or understood.  It's the moments where Jesus shows me something and I can only stop and go..."Oh... now I get that about me.  You did that on purpose."

Destiny

[déstinee]: inner realizable purpose of life: the inner purpose of a life that can be discovered and realized.  Fate, providence, future, purpose, intention, calling

Design meets destiny.  The design is done because there is an end to be met; so there is destiny.

As I understand more and more about God's intention and design the more I pick up pieces about my destiny.  Yes, the all-encompassing destiny of being in the presence of Glory, but even the details of my specific destiny.

Count me among those believe God does give specific revelation.  Pieces that have come together and some that remain only pieces at this time, until all things are revealed at the end.  Like these things...

Worshipping Intercession


Restoration House


The Nations

Transformed through light.  Timeless.

But all is coming from my Jesus who is redeeming the brokenness, invisibility, and transgressions which had marred my original design, just as He is doing for all of creation.

So if you need to be reminded, you were designed with care, with an intent to reflect the Glory of the Creator.  You have a destiny that will come out of your design.  And the humility needed to walk with that is that the transformation to walk in that destiny is only bestowed, by Yahweh.

So this picture is always on display should I forget

Catching Up

A whirlwind trip home later and I'm sitting here thinking, I've got so much to do, but yet I only have just over 2 months remaining in South Korea. 

REALLY?!

It's become hard to think of my time remaining in weeks and not months.  To think about saying goodbye to these kids, to the culture and environment that has been the context for training and transformation.

Picking up my whole life and moving again is daunting.

Sitting down with friends and family I realized that while returning home is a bigger leap of faith for me at this point than staying for another contract, there is no way, anyone is going to let me end up penniless and on the street (as long as I don't turn into a bum.).  

So now , I look forward dreaming of what God is leading me towards.  To take the steps forward, resting in the tenderness and love I have learned of my Heavenly Father.  To keep walking out of the invisibility I claimed as protection, into the strength and vulnerability of exactly who I am, seen, and on the front stage if that is what God calls me to.

So while at the moment, tests that need grading are calling my name, I look forward to delving into the stories of my trip and the heart themes that have been marinating.

• Denying beauty
• Not a stage hand
• Pressed
• International travel
• Weddings