Nothing to Hold but HopeIt’s Five Minute Friday with Lisa-Jo Baker and the prompt is Exhale.

Wednesday was 18 years since we said both hello and goodbye to our daughter Courtney. It was bittersweet. If there is anything I’ve learned from life thus far, it is that the taste in my mouth is never consistent. However, learning to accept God’s will is the reward. After some time passes and I begin to see His perfect plan, then I can take a moment to exhale. It’s all about faith, which is believing in things unseen. (See Hebrews 11:1)

Everything we face here is a process. And process is usually accompanied by anxiety. It’s a time of waiting and figuring things out. While we are in process, we don’t see signs that say turn right or left. This is the number one reason my Bible is tattered and torn. Those thin pages have been cried upon with salt from pain, anger, and love so deep, that it would be incomprehensible for anyone but God to try to understand the heart of the girl who spends her time with eyes locked to the words written there. But it is His word which has kept me sane and enabled me to exhale with less fear and more of knowing He alone is in control.

My book, Nothing to Hold but Hope, released on Wednesday. The same day as, what would have been, Courtney’s 18th birthday. It is my story of the broken bits of bittersweet and sought after joy that comes in the morning through the mourning. It is a ministry tool. It is my heart.

I’ve learned that the bittersweet is what makes the art of our lives. The stories our hearts cry out in the smiles we give and the tears we produce is in some way, art. And it is that art which makes our lives beautiful, interesting, and provides tools to help equip others throughout their difficult moments. We can help others to exhale through their broken pieces with encouragement from our own journeys.

May you blessed today with hope. May you learn to acquire a taste for the bittersweet. May you find trust in the midst of the ache. And exhale…

Love,

Jennifer

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