You Bring - Hope.

Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops… at all.  ~Emily Dickinson

In October of 2010, a brave woman named Evita quietly shared her dream. “I want people of God to come and teach my girls. I want the girls to have job skills. I want the girls to know how to make good decisions. I want my little moms to know how to be the best moms.” Today, she admitted she didn’t think anyone would really want to take the time. “When I got the phone call that your team wanted to teach my girls, I knew God heard my prayer. I wanted to scream ‘yes!’ even before I was asked if it would be OK. I had hoped and hoped someone would come, and here you are.”

Hope is such a beautiful word. It lights the darkest places and makes hearts glow with expectation. Today, I saw hope shine brightly in a place most people would regard as hopeless. I saw hope sing. I heard hope say, “If you believe in me, I can do anything.” I felt hope embrace and keep embracing.

So, what does hope look like?

Hope looks like 289 teenage girls learning about their incomparable worth. It looks like story after story of how Jesus treasures us completely.

Hope is a warm welcome.

Hope looks like a young woman dreaming about a better future.

Hope is a smile.

Hope looks like a beautiful challenge to rise and shine.

Hope stays close.

And hope looks like Blanca. Because hope looks like love.

On Friday, He brought contentment. On Saturday, it was provision. Yesterday, He brought people. Today, He brings hope – through cake decorating, leadership and money management training, lessons on how to care for babies and how to grow up with grace.

Hope. It lives at Hogar Solidario. It travels with our team. It has no boundaries when it comes in Christ’s name. Today we thought we’d bring it … instead we seemed to exchange it. ~Courtney Nowakowski