And suddenly, something happened–all this stress began to melt away. Like ice against the sun, his presence thawed away all the feelings of hopelessness. I started singing with joy as I declared God’s praises. Instead of dread, I was filled with hope.

The hope for new beginnings in parenting mistakes lies in self-reflection. It’s taking those moments apart piece by piece, examining the portions in God’s presence. Once the pieces are all out on the table, we can learn from them.

Hope doesn’t look flashy or beautiful. It’s not something you can simply post about on Instagram, with a filter to make it shiny, especially when it is a hope for something that hasn’t happened yet. Sometimes hope looks like tears, praying that God will make something new. Trusting in His promises, regardless of your current circumstances.

As hard as it is, vulnerability is a good thing. It keeps our hearts feeling, open to the emotions and experiences that keep life full of color and beauty. If we close ourselves off to hope, we close ourselves off to the possibility of thriving in life.

There’s a tension we hold between the hurt and the healing, between the sorrow and the joy, which leads to a longing for restoration, for life to be good again, and for the assurance that joy is possible.

As I grew in my relationship with the Lord, I had to learn how to balance my expectations from my earthly father with my hope in my heavenly Father. The distinction is sometimes indiscernible to us, yet it is so significant. It lies in understanding what God has actually promised as opposed to what He hasn’t.

These desert experiences are common to us all. They don’t mean we have erred or that God has forgotten us. But if they are unavoidable, what in the world are we supposed to do in the middle of the desert? How can we bloom in such harsh conditions?

Hearing the doctors say they have no clue why I’m not getting pregnant isn’t the easiest thing to listen to, regardless of how encouraging their intentions. Have you been wrestling with the reality of your unmet expectations lately? Because if you have been, we're in good company. Whenever I need encouragement, I look to Elijah's story in 1 Kings 19. It’s one that I believe can speak to us in this moment.

As we weather all of life’s endless transitions—of shifting relationships and careers, deaths of loved ones and changes in our environment, cross-country moves and persisting through the ordinary seasons, what would it look like to trust the branch beneath our feet will hold when we land on it?

Sometimes we have to wait for God. We want God to move, to act, to do. We pray about direction, about health, about emotional stability, and God is silent. There’s no answer. We have to wait, and in the waiting, we can start to feel alone, isolated, ignored.

It’s a whole lot easier to trust God when our future seems clear and predictable than when we’re navigating a life we didn’t expect. I have found that the more I surrender my worries daily to God, the more I trust Him, because worry and trust can’t occupy the same space within us - one always overtakes the other.

The world stage is just ablaze with sad headlines and upheaval. It tries to spark fear in us. Have you felt it? Jesus is no stranger to upheaval. In the midst of all of this, Jesus, who was afraid of nothing, speaks ever so gently to us saying--What are you really afraid of? You have turmoil because things are up in the air. But I am the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The more we stuff our feelings, the more the ache will sting. We have to choose the hard work of processing through it or else our bodies will find another way to work out our wounds. This pain is not something to fear, but a gauge we can embrace. It’s an invitation to dig beneath the surface and see what is happening at the root of our loss.

When we feel down, is God somehow absent, withholding divine pleasure from us? Is God frustrated with us for letting the weight of the world hinder our faith walk? No, He is present and active in our lives. But it doesn't fix these gloomy, depressed, stressed-out days. What can be done?

If we knew that God would answer us in every difficult situation, seeking Him would be our natural first instinct. So what if we made choices that show we do believe that? What if we choose Him, right here, in the middle of the hard moments? If you are longing to hear Him louder in those difficult times, here are five postures that will guide you towards Him in prayer.

Maybe the storm has overtaken you because you were fighting it on your own instead of asking the Creator of the storm how to coexist with the storm. That may seem strange at first, learning how to cohabitate with what’s trying to drown you, but this isn’t a new concept. Jesus promised us an abundant life, but He also promised us a physical life that would be filled with trouble.