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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

Because of Hope.

September 25, 2014 by HappyGoStuckey 9 Comments

Ann Voskamp wrote that “The Days that are Dry and Brittle to Snap, These Days are Perfect Kindling for a Burning Bush.”

And I know that it is true. Somedays we feel used up, wrung out, worn out and without any smidge of creativity or grace left for even ourselves.

Some days we go beyond mere living and we live life abundantly. We walk firmly in our calling, heart held high– 100% certain of who we are, what we’re doing and most importantly, WHOSE we are.

becauseofhope

 

Then other days our heart’s vision is a bit less than 20/20. Maybe it’s just a cloud of uncertainty in our calling. We wake up already tired from the day we have not yet lived and we wonder “why.” Those days can be tough.

Like the milk billows through my cup of Earl Grey and turns the strong liquid from clear to cloudy– We QUESTION what should be clear. We ask questions for which we already know the answers. Not just with the head, but with the heart.

We wonder if we’re getting through to them. We ask if what we’re doing matters. If we are doing enough. Truly helping. When there is so much pain in the world and our arms feel suffocatingly short, we question if we are the friend, the wife, the mom, the anything-– that this world needs.

Though those questions might be good for a time and a place, often they lead not to clearer vision, but darker views of who we are.

Perhaps we should start not with the ‘Why,’ but begin instead with the ‘Because.’  

Because we are known. Because we are loved. Because we are valuable to Him. Because we are his masterpiece.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”  Jer. 1:5

Because we have a purpose, and it’s HIS work we are about. Whether the job involves washing sticky hands or taking HOPE half way around the world, we need not waste time wondering IF we matter, but walk forward knowing THAT we matter because we matter to Him.

Not because of self-motivation and an empty thumb’s-up but BECAUSE—

“…We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Eph. 2:10 

And this hope that we have– it’s too good not to share. It’s too valuable to be buried in our own uncertainty.

Because it matters. It matters that we know the depth of the hope that we hold. When we are aware of how good this hope is, we cannot help but extend it to others.

 

Words of Truth: Wateroak Design Co. (and a Giveaway!)
Balancing It All (Review and Giveaway!)

Comments

  1. stoopingformanna says

    September 25, 2014 at 10:53 pm

    Loved this! “Start with the because”… What a great thought- and beautifully written, as usual. I’m always glad when I visit your place.

    Reply
  2. Liz says

    September 25, 2014 at 11:04 pm

    Yes yes yes. I needed to hear this!

    Reply
  3. bluecottonmemory says

    September 26, 2014 at 12:41 am

    that we ask questions to which we already know the answers – that resonates with me. I think sometimes I just need to hear a “Yes, that’s right. You’ve got it. You’re not alone” – in the answering of the question. I enjoyed taking tea with you! LOL – come by my place for some!

    Reply
  4. Julie Lefebure says

    September 26, 2014 at 10:13 am

    So glad I followed you at FMF! Beautifully written, and just what I needed for this Friday morning! God bless you as you continue making a difference for Him. You matter!

    Reply
  5. amypboyd says

    September 26, 2014 at 10:39 am

    Amen !!! I needed to be reminded of this.

    Reply
  6. CW says

    September 26, 2014 at 5:37 pm

    Love this! Thank you for the encouragement of your words today!

    Reply
  7. kballor says

    September 26, 2014 at 7:00 pm

    Thank you for putting hope into such beautiful words for us today.

    Reply
  8. Tiffany McIntire Harris says

    September 28, 2014 at 10:16 pm

    So much yes. SO MUCH. Great post, so encouraging!

    Reply
  9. Caitlin L. says

    September 30, 2014 at 7:51 am

    Amen and Amen!!! Thank you for this!

    Reply

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Hey There!

I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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happygostuckey

Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all the answers, yet.

While you sit in a season of waiting,
the calendar can often be a cruel companion, reminding you that days go by, weeks, months— with what feels like very little change in the right direction.

Perhaps you can easily assent to: 
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but you strain to see just how it will be when: “...a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)

Wherever you and I are today— whether we wander, wait, stand firmly planted, or some pressed together combination of all three — we can take heart.

We are not alone.
And this will not be wasted.
What seems to be an unending blank space, an indefinite pause, is a space for new things.

Long before all is made right, and whether or not it all is tied up neatly with a perfectly crafted bow— we can know this:

We do not have to know the outcome to be faithful today.

✨Joy is not disregard for reality as much as it is obstinacy against despair.✨
Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. T Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. There. I said it. These days I’m gravitating to the true & the beautiful as rest for my weary self... and I wonder if you are too.

So much so, that I’m starting a new little offering, it’s called “The Feast: Wonder for the Weary” and the first issue goes out this weekend. It’s a bit more personal (okay this first one is WAY more personal. 🤭) It will be a little bit of everything, all with the goal of offering REST to both the feasters & foragers alike. If you’re already a subscriber— no need to do anything, if not— click through my bio to “keep in touch” and join the feast.✨
We are a people of both lament and praise. We hol We are a people of both lament and praise.

We hold questions without answers— yet we hold them in hands already full of good things.

We hold our daily bread, our daily gifts, and we hold the daily closeness of the God Who Sees.

The God who is no stranger to our lament, and Who Is the reason for our every hope.
He does not grow weary of our asking. Of our need to be told again, He will. 

You friend, are not invisible.
You are seen and cared for by the God who does all things well. (Even when they feel anything but.)
Married love ambition: making the kids roll their Married love ambition: making the kids roll their eyes at our “gushy-ness” as often as possible. 

President & CEO of the Lance Stuckey Fan Club— in every season, but especially on days like today.
Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty k Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty kitchen.😍🌧📚

On this chilly Saturday, we spent entirely too long browsing for books at our library and then all came home to a fire, mochas, and cocoa, respectively. Of all the things we do not know at this very moment, we know the gifts abound, and are worth counting.

PS, if you haven’t spread whipped cream on a foil-lined baking sheet to freeze, and then cut out cute shapes with cookie cutters to top your coffee or hot cocoa, may I suggest you get thee on that at once.
“If God sends us on strong paths, we are provide “If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.” — Corrie Ten Boom

✨File under, things to save in a fire.✨

The prayer journal pictured here contains six months of the hard & the sweet.
Six months of prayers asked & answered for ourselves and for others.
Six months of seeing through prayer, not how it changed our circumstances necessarily but how it changed us.

I always appreciate a record like this— being able to clearly see the paths we are led down, rocky though they may be? Priceless.

The ways God has come near us & drawn us to Himself again and again are written on these pages and I’ll treasure it forever.

Also pictured: Psalms Illuminated Scripture Journal. Highly recommend. Thank you always, @allifarnell
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it th “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

While scrolling through my photos today, my heart was heavy to realize how far back “before” was.

Before masks and distancing, before loss, before other, more personal bits of hard. Multitudinous change, neither all bad nor all good.

With our free time, we’ve introduced our girls to Tolkien, Bilbo, Frodo, and especially Samwise the Brave. They are officially hooked and we are delighted to watch them discover another world where evil doesn’t win, and the courage of the small matters much. {they close their eyes at the Orcs and we haven’t had a nightmare yet!}🤞🏻😂😬
I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog th I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog these days.

It started with the Sourdough and a dozen different kinds of jam last year.
I suddenly find great calm in activities that stand in direction opposition to hurry, the textbook definition of ✨work in progress.✨ And really, if you could see the other side of this piece, you would believe me. 🙃

Thank you to @thebarmyfox for making embroidery so accessible!
@thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfec @thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful,” and I believe that the weeknight meal equivalent is, “Just because it’s easy— doesn’t make it a second-tier supper!”

Thank you, Spaghetti with Meat sauce for being both a ministry to mom AND a crowd pleaser. Especially on a dreary January-ish day. It is ✨quite alright✨ to make something we’ve made a million times just because we know it makes the people happy.🍝
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