beautifully broken

According to the dictionary, "hope"=a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. I love the word hope. To me, it's that feeling of mystery; not knowing what's to come. It's exciting! To some people, hope may not always be exciting because you don't know what's going to happen on the other side of this mysterious feeling. It could be something bad. It could be life changing, in an inconvenient way. Instead, this exciting feeling turns to a bundle of nerves and anxiety.

The good news is hope is not intended for nerves, anxiety, and especially not for worry. Our personalities are so intricately designed that we have the privileged of feeling hope, the way God intended us to feel it. So, what does that look like?

Hope in the world = expectation

Hope in God = confident expectation

Whenever I think of confident expectation, I break it down as literally confidently expecting the Lord to act on my behalf. Does that mean that what I am hoping for will happen? Not always, BUT that's where the confidence really kicks in. I am confident in my Father. He will provide. He will take care of me. He knows everything I need. So, if what I'm hoping for doesn't happen, it's His will for it not to happen and I'm okay with that. Does it mean that what I'm hoping for will never happen? Not necessarily...

Romans 8:24-25: We were given this hope when we were saved. If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.

The Lord knows the desires of our hearts. He wants to fulfill those desires when the time is right to bring Him the most glory. If you know God has called you to do something or promised you something but it hasn't happened yet, confidently expect it will happen! Wait patiently and confidently.

Hope and trust go hand in hand and this is my prayer for you: Romans 15:13:

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Hold on to what God's promised you. He is faithful. He will provide. You must trust and confidently hope and expect that He will act!

I haven't blogged in over a month so I thought I'd do a little life update! I've missed writing and blogging about it. Hopefully things will settle down soon and I can get back to it!

Well, my last post was about a book review. Oh, to blog about books again! That seems so long ago. That was when I was between finishing school and the beginning of my nursing career. So, I definitely had more time on my hands. The last two months have been a whirlwind really, so here it goes:

1. May 9th--graduated nursing school (WHOOO!) and spent fabulous time with my man (even better!).
   
2. May 17th--first job interview out of school and then that same afternoon, found out I was accepted to USC Upstate to go back to school (I still don't know what I'm thinking just yet...I'll let you know in August).
3. May 28th--took my State Nursing boards (most nervous day of my life!).
4. May 30th--Found out I passed my boards!
5. June 2nd--Accepted the job offer as a Neurology nurse at Spartanburg Regional.

So that little month was a doozy! But how wonderful our God is in His provision for my life! The rest of June was spent reading books, relaxing, spending time with my great guy, going to the beach, and getting things lined up for the job.

I started my job on June 28th and so far, I'm really enjoying it! It's such a big change from nursing school (textbook/perfect world nursing) to real world nursing. The adjustment will definitely take some time and the fact that I actually have a voice and I'm respected for my judgement and opinion. Oh, and the fact that I'm getting paid! Whhhhaaat?! Y'all have to understand that I went from not working at all the last year so I could solely focus on school (thanks mom and dad) to making a nurse's salary. What a blessing!

My schedule has been swamped due to working 12's and also having to attend all these orientation classes, continuing education classes, etc. Once I'm set on just my three days a week, hopefully I can blog more and cook more. I'm sure I'll at least have some awesome patient stories that we can laugh and cry about.

And just a little spill about what God's speaking into me lately: Proverbs 3:3 "Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart." Everywhere I go and everything I do, loyalty and kindness must stay with me. I am constantly reminding myself and speaking it over me all throughout the day. I'm trying to be loyal in all of my words, by following through with loyal actions. And, kindness to someone can change their entire day, y'all! Be kind to one another. It makes all the difference.

Happy Monday! :)