With Bright Hope @withbrighthope - Tumblr Blog

A Friend to the Friendless

7/30/25

When I was a little girl I used to find myself praying for the actors and actresses in the movies I watched. To this day I can’t pinpoint when or why I started doing this, but I have memories (and journal entries) that show it was often on my mind.

I know I wanted everyone to come to know Jesus and be saved. But after that prayer the one I can remember the most was this: “God, please send them real friends. Please send people into their lives who won’t want anything from them but to love them.”

It’s amazing the difference a friend can make in your life.

As I was writing that just now the story came to mind of Jesus healing the paralytic man. Maybe you remember it…

One day while Jesus was preaching inside a home, several men came carrying their paralyzed friend between them. They wanted to bring him to Jesus to be healed, but “…finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you.”’ [Luke 5:19-20]

A couple minutes later the scene culminates with Jesus commanding the paralyzed man to pick up his mat and walk, and he does so - rejoicing at his healing all the way home.

I love how the Bible tells us the reason that Jesus forgave the man and healed him was because He saw the faith of his friends. Jesus never addresses the paralytic man’s faith in this particular story, but the faith of his friends won a miracle for him that day.

That’s incredible. Every time I read this story, it leaves the same singular question in my heart: “Who am I carrying to Jesus today?”

Can you take a moment to answer that question for yourself? (Another way of answering this could be to consider if there’s anyone you know who really needs a friend right now.)

Maybe your immediate thought was of someone you know in real life, and if so, please reach out to them! Send them a text or call them out of the blue today just to check in.

But I also know this group is full of prayer warriors and intercessors, and one of the most beautiful things about intercession is that we get to advocate for those we’ve never met. So I’d invite you to sit a little while longer and see if anyone else comes to mind.

Has a certain name stood out to you in the news recently? Is there a specific actor, actress, or director from something you watched recently? Once God settles a specific person in your heart and mind, I want to encourage you to take a few minutes to pray for them. You may never meet them in real life. They may never know your name.

But right now you have the chance to step in as their friend and take them before the Lord. And just as we witnessed in the Bible story above, your faith in Jesus is powerful to make a difference in their life.

Do you believe that?

Who will you carry to Jesus today?

7/8/25

This Sunday, Peter and I will celebrate one year of owning our boat. (I like to call it our Boativersary.)

One year ago today, I woke up from a dream that I knew wasn't prophetic, but still managed to make me feel horribly sad.

For years Peter and I had been dating and praying to get married. Early on in our relationship God spoke to Peter; He said when it was the right time for Peter to propose, He would open the door to our future home as a sign. It sounded like a simple, straightforward word at the time, but it resulted in a great testing of our faith.

We knew living in Los Angeles was expensive, but we also believed we were meant to be together. Each of us knew God had called us to live in this city at this moment in history, so we had no choice but to believe Him for a housing breakthrough. We had no idea then that we'd spend years waiting for it.

In the meantime: We prayed. We fasted. We fought in the Spirit, contending for His promises. We rested and we worshipped. We came back to the Word again and again. Sometimes we cried. And other times we had confidence that the breakthrough was on the way.

The Bible says of Joseph, the famous Old Testament dreamer, "Until what he had said came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him." [Psalm 105:19, NIV]

...I wonder if any of you find yourselves in that same process today.

My prayer is that this page from our stories would encourage you in the middle of yours.

One year ago today, on a Tuesday morning, I woke up crying from a bad dream, with this single thought in my mind: "There's no hope for our future... There's only an empty horizon."

It was one of the worst days I can remember in the entire journey of waiting, and one of the only occasions I felt completely hopeless.

Writing this just now, I think of the story of Elijah and his servant in 1 Kings 18. Elijah prophesied that a rainstorm would come in a time of extreme drought. In the above passage we read that after delivering this prophecy, he got on his knees with his head to the ground and prayed for rain. While he prayed, he sent his servant to look out the window for rain clouds. Six times, the servant ran to the window and came back with a report very similar to the one I heard in my head on this day last year: "There's nothing there." There's no sign of change or of God's intervention.

On that day, one year ago, I gave up on looking for the rain cloud of breakthrough.

But what I never could have imagined on that hopeless Tuesday morning is that I was hours out from one of the biggest, most personal miracles I've ever witnessed.

The very next day, Peter saw an online listing for a very special sailboat. The day after that, we went to see it in person and discovered the Spirit of God on board, waiting for us. On Friday we bought the boat on a handshake, and by Saturday the title was ours.

I love testimonies. I love the big reveal. I love the excitement of God pulling back the curtain and showing us He was working behind-the-scenes the whole time.

But as I reflect on our boat journey (which was, in a much bigger way, our marriage journey), I also remember the discouragement of the Tuesdays along the way.

Friends, if any of you are in the middle of waiting on a promise from the Lord, if your hope has been deferred again and again, and if it feels like every time you run to the window there's nothing there but an empty horizon... I see you.

Every story is different, but I know how that moment felt in mine, and I want you to know that I'm sorry for the pain of the process.

I'll wait with you here.

And while we wait, I'll remind you, the best that I can, that there's more to see behind the curtain. Our God is alive and He still works miracles - like Elijah's unforecasted rainstorm and our beautiful little boat.

ihopeinjesus

Your primary task in life is to get to know God intimately and to send your spiritual roots deep into the soil of His love; to develop convictions and certainties about Him that will become the source of your strength when happiness isn't enough.

redeemed-renewed-restored

8/13/24

Sometimes God gives you a word, like, "I will provide a place for you to live*, and when it comes you'll know it's time to move into the future I have for you."

(*together, in marriage)

Sometimes you hold onto that word for years.

Some days it's easy to have hope for what you can't see, but know He's said. Some days the ever-empty horizon makes your heart sick.

Some days you rest. Some days you cry.

Every day, you try to shepherd your heart toward gratitude and praise.

And then...

After more than a thousand days of prayer, He changes everything in a moment.

Finally... Suddenly.

⚡️

Out of nowhere (and after waiting so long), you hold the proof in your hands that He was witness to every arduous day of the journey.

And on that day, you find that the evidence of His knowing means more to you than the evidence of His answer.

~~~

One month ago today, the God of whimsy surprised me and Peter by giving us a sailboat as our first home.

😂🕊️❤️⛵️😭🙌🏼

The past 31 days have contained: Coast Guard and marina inspections, scrubbing every surface bow to stern, the minor task of learning to sail (😂), studying marine engineering, chasing down 20 different leads trying to find live-aboard insurance, down-sizing, packing for a sudden move, and more.

As I said to someone the other day, "Either we're in over our heads, or we're walking on water... I choose to believe that we're walking on water."

Jesus has led us out into some new unexpected, unpredictable, and exciting waves.

But then again, in my story, the waves are the place I've always known to find Him.

🌊⛵️🕊️

"Some went out on the sea in ships;

they were merchants on the mighty waters.

They saw the works of the Lord,

his wonderful deeds in the deep."

- Psalm 107:23-24