We want to recount God’s goodness and faithfulness expressed thru the Hope at Home teaching and fellowship. God met us!
Given our background, we have not truly known who we are in Christ. “Sinner”, “worm”, “not worthy” etc. would sum up the assessment we’ve had of ourselves these past 15+ years. The Lord, over the last several years, has graciously begun to lift our eyes away from ourselves to behold HIS beauty and He has begun to impart revelation as to who we really are in Him. It has really been a fight though to renew our minds, and often we slip back into believing lies. Sat. morning I was struggling in this area and your daughter's song pierced my heart! It was as if a surgeon went in to remove those lies and Truth was imparted. God is so good! Next, the men’s class with Dionne reminded me of the authority I have in Christ. This culture of Northland's Godly warriors who know who they are in Him are going to effect generations for His glory!!
I am a researcher…in fact I LOVE to research. Trouble is, when it comes to special needs, I can research myself into fear and self-sufficiency. The main thing the Lord reminded me of, was of my need to seek HIM first for our daughter. First before doctors, conferences, other’s counsel etc. This was a reoccurring theme that filled me with hope and expectation that God is indeed going to reveal His perfect plan for our girl. Second, I was so blessed by your church!! You have sooo many spiritual giants among you! Every conversation felt like a divine appointment. I left feeling so loved and encouraged. I also left with God bigger in my eyes, thanks to Hope at Home and those from Northlands. I am so grateful!! May the Lord only release MORE in and thru your body!!
I just wanted to write and say thank you for all the work you and your church did for the Hope at Home conference last weekend. We were truly Blessed! I'm looking forward to getting to know you better as we stay in touch and pray for one another.
Thank you so much for the time you all gave to listen to my heart and then to pray for me! I think that was the highlight of the weekend for me! I believe prayer changes things including me!
I just wanted to let you know that my husband and I had such a great time at Hope at Home this weekend. It was a great chance for us to ask questions to parents that have adopted and also for us to get spiritual advice about our marriage and family. I especially loved the time after lunch on Saturday when we went to the different stations. I went to the prophetic words station and was truly amazed with how what they said went along with a lot of my questions lately with God. One thing that I've been doing is writing and speaking about Christian living and their words served as a great encouragement to me that I should continue to do that.
Was absolutely blessed by the Hope at Home conference at Northlands Church! Gleaned from the gifted teaching with Beth Templeton, Susan Hillis and all the other anointed speakers. So thankful for the words spoken over my husband and me. Left feeling encouraged, inspired, and more prepared to parent the two blessings the Lord has waiting for us an ocean away.
My brain and heart can't hold anymore! Kudos to Beth Templeton, Susan Hillis, and the Hope at Home ministry with Northlands Church. You touched adoptive and foster families in a beautiful way this weekend. It's going to take days for me to absorb it all :)
Thank you so much for such wonderful Spirit filled time and weekend for people like us on a Journey, heading for a Journey, or are thinking about a Journey. Friday is was awesome and i just cant wait to hear about Saturday. I was blessed beyond Measure. Thank you million times over.
Thanks so much for a great weekend of HOPE!
We really enjoyed this weekend. I especially grabbed on to your talk about wanting to do it all right and your mom was so sweet to pray for me. Thank you for the time you put in! I wondered if you could tell me the songs from Friday night worship? There was one I really liked but I don't remember it now!
Thank you for an amazing weekend at the conf. We really appreciate all that you and the church did to put this weekend together. We could feel how much prayer there was over this weekend and we are so grateful to have been on the receiving end of it. I loved your foundations picture and like I said we only wish we had understood this when we brought our daughter home. We know that our God is a redeeming God and He will restore! I will sure share this with other newly adoptive parents!! Even though I loved the information and the tools all of you shared, I just have to say that what I loved most is that I met with the Lord in a way I have not done in too long. Please give our thank you to your church!! Thank you again
I keep thinking of the "picture you painted" of the broken columns holding the building and the new pillars that God is building. It is imprinted on my mind and heart. It's an image and description I will never forget. Cannot thank you enough for sharing your heart!
I cannot thank you enough for including us in the Hope at Home ministry. It was truly amazing! Keep it up! God is changing lives through Hope at Home an we are no exception! We loved every minute of our time with the Hope at Home team.
Hi Susan and Beth, I've been following your blog/facebook for about a year now and eating up all that you put on there... so, so helpful! It all just makes sense at every level. I even ordered some of the books you spoke about- Grace Based Parenting and the Louis Giglio book. Susan, I just read your repost of "Talks with your Daughters" and I just sat in awe at the grace and love with which you dealt with your daughter calling from jail.. that you heard and saw that God was working in her as she asked you to pray a specific Psalm for her. I keep reading your posts and say, "yes!" in my heart and mind and yet struggle to implement it with my 20 year old. I seem to be able to parent with grace and compassion with my younger bios and adopteds from 5-11 but my 20 year old, who is living a rebellious life, is causing such grief and frustration and bitterness that I really struggle with operating from grace and not the law. He's our first and we really thought if you do A,B,C your child will grow up loving and serving God. So, we did and now we're not seeing that but the opposite. I'm having such a hard time!! Is it safe to assume you might have felt some of what I'm feeling and if you did, how did you move beyond so you could respond in grace and seeing their identity forward? I've been praying for a miraculous change of heart and God giving me the words and right attitude and right heart with which to respond to all his "stuff" with and I'm just not "feeling it"! How do you "contain" (for lack of a better word) their rebellion so that the rest of the house can function. Do you have boundaries for 20 year olds still living at home? These are the questions we struggle with. I know you pray for your fb followers and so appreciate knowing that. Thank you for any insight you might have to share with me. However, you are both busy people with big families and ministry, so I understand if answering private messages is too difficult. Thank you so much for your ministry... It really is impacting how we parent and understand our children. In fact, many of my friends who have adopted are always telling me how much they love the Hope at Home stuff I've shared on my fb wall.
If you are an adoptive parent or a parent at all, "like" this page for guaranteed wisdom and encouragement every day! Thank you Beth & Susan for your words!
Thank you ladies for your ministry. I was crying this morning to another adoptive mom and telling her I feel so alone in my feelings or lack of feelings towards my newest children. She had adopted young children and we adopted 9 and 14 year old sisters from EThiopia. They have been home exactly 6 months today. I reached a new low this week and have really been wondering if there is really any hope for our family. I really have very few warm feelings towards the youngest who is incredibly strong willed and yelled last week that she wanted to go back to Ethiopia. At that moment I truly wished I could send her back on the next flight. There are some days that the sound of her voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard. I could completely relate to the "as if" post where Beth quoted a part of Gary Chapman's book. I have may not feel the love but I can show the action. Your posts help to feed my adoptive mom soul. I am feeling like there is hope this evening. Thanks you!
Thank you so much for your message today. You don't even know how much I needed it.
I want you to know how incredibly blessed I am by your ministry! It's encouraged, stirred, convicted, and instructed me, not only in my adoption journey but in parenting my bio kids as well. I've read most of the articles on your website... your stories on your prodigal experiences were lifelines this past fall! You've often pointed me back to God when I've become stuck in being overly focused on "what would Purvis, Post and Forbes do?" So, THANK YOU!!
Posted the Hope at Home site to some adoptive fb groups I am part of so they too can find the encouragement that you share from scriptures. Thank you for the encouragement each time you post. So very blessed.
I love to see posts from Hope at Home! Thank you! Always so understanding and uplifting! Much needed.
God recently reminded me the He is El-Roi. It is good to be again reminded here. Always I am so grateful for Hope at Home posts and blogs. I often do not take time to comment but I feel God ministering to me through your ministry regularly. Thank you...I often am lonely on this journey and you remind me that He is El-Roi and Yawhwh Shammah.
So blessed by you and Hope at Home...sort of an addict now.
You don't know how much your words and your prayers meant to me. They really helped carry me through the weekend. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I cannot say it enough.
The other thing you spoke of that just impacted me so deeply was how you call out the treasure in your children. It is just so refreshing and encouraging to hear women who have walked this road for a long time give hope and purpose to the hard places that I live in everyday. Even that simple phrase that you said you use with your children: ‘I am your mama who loves you. This is not who you are; let me remind you of who you are.’ That was so, so powerful for me, and I can’t tell you how the dynamic in our home has changed since I started using those words with my children. We are striving to parent our children with grace, and it’s hard to buck “Christian’ culture in doing so, but you just have no idea how much I needed to hear you say that it works. Not that it means everything will turn out ‘ok’, but that it works because we’re changed and our children are changed in the process. That grace works because that’s how God parents us. That calling out the treasure in our children works – that it doesn’t just change them, it also changes us to be more like our Savior.
I just can't even express to you how God uses you to speak His heart to me and begin healing in my broken/stressed out/craziness.
I was able to sit in on your marriage breakout session that also included your pastor’s wife sharing in the presentation. That session was filled with so many nuggets of wisdom that I tucked away in my heart.
I wanted you to know that sharing your heart made a huge difference for us during a very difficult season. Thank you! God carried us through and I am so thankful for Him and His strength.
I've followed your ministry since last year, and I have friends who say their post-adoption "breakthroughs" came through Hope at Home.
Thank you for an amazing weekend at the conf. We really appreciate all that you and the church did to put this weekend together. We could feel how much prayer there was over this weekend and we are so grateful to have been on the receiving end of it. I loved your foundations picture. I will sure share this with other newly adoptive parents!! Even though I loved the information and the tools all of you shared, I just have to say that what I loved most is that I met with the Lord in a way I have not done in too long. Please give our thank you to your church.
I am encouraged literally daily by your status updates! Thank you!
I can not tell you how much your posts are getting me through this time in my life. As I lay here in bed on vacation at the beach ( which is usually relaxing) I find my self laying here dreading going out to start the day with my family ( I am getting my boxing gloves on and my feet haven't even touched the floor) I needed this post this morning. It is hard to put things into perspective when you are in the middle of the trenches and that is what you posts do. Thank you so much Beth!
This is simply the best blog I know of to encourage & give hope adoptive parents & those who work in the adoption/orphan care world. Thank you Susan Hillis & Beth Templeton! Would so love to go to the conference sometime!
Given our background, we have not truly known who we are in Christ. “Sinner”, “worm”, “not worthy” etc. would sum up the assessment we’ve had of ourselves these past 15+ years. The Lord, over the last several years, has graciously begun to lift our eyes away from ourselves to behold HIS beauty and He has begun to impart revelation as to who we really are in Him. It has really been a fight though to renew our minds, and often we slip back into believing lies. Sat. morning I was struggling in this area and your daughter's song pierced my heart! It was as if a surgeon went in to remove those lies and Truth was imparted. God is so good! Next, the men’s class with Dionne reminded me of the authority I have in Christ. This culture of Northland's Godly warriors who know who they are in Him are going to effect generations for His glory!!
I am a researcher…in fact I LOVE to research. Trouble is, when it comes to special needs, I can research myself into fear and self-sufficiency. The main thing the Lord reminded me of, was of my need to seek HIM first for our daughter. First before doctors, conferences, other’s counsel etc. This was a reoccurring theme that filled me with hope and expectation that God is indeed going to reveal His perfect plan for our girl. Second, I was so blessed by your church!! You have sooo many spiritual giants among you! Every conversation felt like a divine appointment. I left feeling so loved and encouraged. I also left with God bigger in my eyes, thanks to Hope at Home and those from Northlands. I am so grateful!! May the Lord only release MORE in and thru your body!!
I just wanted to write and say thank you for all the work you and your church did for the Hope at Home conference last weekend. We were truly Blessed! I'm looking forward to getting to know you better as we stay in touch and pray for one another.
Thank you so much for the time you all gave to listen to my heart and then to pray for me! I think that was the highlight of the weekend for me! I believe prayer changes things including me!
I just wanted to let you know that my husband and I had such a great time at Hope at Home this weekend. It was a great chance for us to ask questions to parents that have adopted and also for us to get spiritual advice about our marriage and family. I especially loved the time after lunch on Saturday when we went to the different stations. I went to the prophetic words station and was truly amazed with how what they said went along with a lot of my questions lately with God. One thing that I've been doing is writing and speaking about Christian living and their words served as a great encouragement to me that I should continue to do that.
Was absolutely blessed by the Hope at Home conference at Northlands Church! Gleaned from the gifted teaching with Beth Templeton, Susan Hillis and all the other anointed speakers. So thankful for the words spoken over my husband and me. Left feeling encouraged, inspired, and more prepared to parent the two blessings the Lord has waiting for us an ocean away.
My brain and heart can't hold anymore! Kudos to Beth Templeton, Susan Hillis, and the Hope at Home ministry with Northlands Church. You touched adoptive and foster families in a beautiful way this weekend. It's going to take days for me to absorb it all :)
Thank you so much for such wonderful Spirit filled time and weekend for people like us on a Journey, heading for a Journey, or are thinking about a Journey. Friday is was awesome and i just cant wait to hear about Saturday. I was blessed beyond Measure. Thank you million times over.
Thanks so much for a great weekend of HOPE!
We really enjoyed this weekend. I especially grabbed on to your talk about wanting to do it all right and your mom was so sweet to pray for me. Thank you for the time you put in! I wondered if you could tell me the songs from Friday night worship? There was one I really liked but I don't remember it now!
Thank you for an amazing weekend at the conf. We really appreciate all that you and the church did to put this weekend together. We could feel how much prayer there was over this weekend and we are so grateful to have been on the receiving end of it. I loved your foundations picture and like I said we only wish we had understood this when we brought our daughter home. We know that our God is a redeeming God and He will restore! I will sure share this with other newly adoptive parents!! Even though I loved the information and the tools all of you shared, I just have to say that what I loved most is that I met with the Lord in a way I have not done in too long. Please give our thank you to your church!! Thank you again
I keep thinking of the "picture you painted" of the broken columns holding the building and the new pillars that God is building. It is imprinted on my mind and heart. It's an image and description I will never forget. Cannot thank you enough for sharing your heart!
I cannot thank you enough for including us in the Hope at Home ministry. It was truly amazing! Keep it up! God is changing lives through Hope at Home an we are no exception! We loved every minute of our time with the Hope at Home team.
Hi Susan and Beth, I've been following your blog/facebook for about a year now and eating up all that you put on there... so, so helpful! It all just makes sense at every level. I even ordered some of the books you spoke about- Grace Based Parenting and the Louis Giglio book. Susan, I just read your repost of "Talks with your Daughters" and I just sat in awe at the grace and love with which you dealt with your daughter calling from jail.. that you heard and saw that God was working in her as she asked you to pray a specific Psalm for her. I keep reading your posts and say, "yes!" in my heart and mind and yet struggle to implement it with my 20 year old. I seem to be able to parent with grace and compassion with my younger bios and adopteds from 5-11 but my 20 year old, who is living a rebellious life, is causing such grief and frustration and bitterness that I really struggle with operating from grace and not the law. He's our first and we really thought if you do A,B,C your child will grow up loving and serving God. So, we did and now we're not seeing that but the opposite. I'm having such a hard time!! Is it safe to assume you might have felt some of what I'm feeling and if you did, how did you move beyond so you could respond in grace and seeing their identity forward? I've been praying for a miraculous change of heart and God giving me the words and right attitude and right heart with which to respond to all his "stuff" with and I'm just not "feeling it"! How do you "contain" (for lack of a better word) their rebellion so that the rest of the house can function. Do you have boundaries for 20 year olds still living at home? These are the questions we struggle with. I know you pray for your fb followers and so appreciate knowing that. Thank you for any insight you might have to share with me. However, you are both busy people with big families and ministry, so I understand if answering private messages is too difficult. Thank you so much for your ministry... It really is impacting how we parent and understand our children. In fact, many of my friends who have adopted are always telling me how much they love the Hope at Home stuff I've shared on my fb wall.
If you are an adoptive parent or a parent at all, "like" this page for guaranteed wisdom and encouragement every day! Thank you Beth & Susan for your words!
Thank you ladies for your ministry. I was crying this morning to another adoptive mom and telling her I feel so alone in my feelings or lack of feelings towards my newest children. She had adopted young children and we adopted 9 and 14 year old sisters from EThiopia. They have been home exactly 6 months today. I reached a new low this week and have really been wondering if there is really any hope for our family. I really have very few warm feelings towards the youngest who is incredibly strong willed and yelled last week that she wanted to go back to Ethiopia. At that moment I truly wished I could send her back on the next flight. There are some days that the sound of her voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard. I could completely relate to the "as if" post where Beth quoted a part of Gary Chapman's book. I have may not feel the love but I can show the action. Your posts help to feed my adoptive mom soul. I am feeling like there is hope this evening. Thanks you!
Thank you so much for your message today. You don't even know how much I needed it.
I want you to know how incredibly blessed I am by your ministry! It's encouraged, stirred, convicted, and instructed me, not only in my adoption journey but in parenting my bio kids as well. I've read most of the articles on your website... your stories on your prodigal experiences were lifelines this past fall! You've often pointed me back to God when I've become stuck in being overly focused on "what would Purvis, Post and Forbes do?" So, THANK YOU!!
Posted the Hope at Home site to some adoptive fb groups I am part of so they too can find the encouragement that you share from scriptures. Thank you for the encouragement each time you post. So very blessed.
I love to see posts from Hope at Home! Thank you! Always so understanding and uplifting! Much needed.
God recently reminded me the He is El-Roi. It is good to be again reminded here. Always I am so grateful for Hope at Home posts and blogs. I often do not take time to comment but I feel God ministering to me through your ministry regularly. Thank you...I often am lonely on this journey and you remind me that He is El-Roi and Yawhwh Shammah.
So blessed by you and Hope at Home...sort of an addict now.
You don't know how much your words and your prayers meant to me. They really helped carry me through the weekend. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I cannot say it enough.
The other thing you spoke of that just impacted me so deeply was how you call out the treasure in your children. It is just so refreshing and encouraging to hear women who have walked this road for a long time give hope and purpose to the hard places that I live in everyday. Even that simple phrase that you said you use with your children: ‘I am your mama who loves you. This is not who you are; let me remind you of who you are.’ That was so, so powerful for me, and I can’t tell you how the dynamic in our home has changed since I started using those words with my children. We are striving to parent our children with grace, and it’s hard to buck “Christian’ culture in doing so, but you just have no idea how much I needed to hear you say that it works. Not that it means everything will turn out ‘ok’, but that it works because we’re changed and our children are changed in the process. That grace works because that’s how God parents us. That calling out the treasure in our children works – that it doesn’t just change them, it also changes us to be more like our Savior.
I just can't even express to you how God uses you to speak His heart to me and begin healing in my broken/stressed out/craziness.
I was able to sit in on your marriage breakout session that also included your pastor’s wife sharing in the presentation. That session was filled with so many nuggets of wisdom that I tucked away in my heart.
I wanted you to know that sharing your heart made a huge difference for us during a very difficult season. Thank you! God carried us through and I am so thankful for Him and His strength.
I've followed your ministry since last year, and I have friends who say their post-adoption "breakthroughs" came through Hope at Home.
Thank you for an amazing weekend at the conf. We really appreciate all that you and the church did to put this weekend together. We could feel how much prayer there was over this weekend and we are so grateful to have been on the receiving end of it. I loved your foundations picture. I will sure share this with other newly adoptive parents!! Even though I loved the information and the tools all of you shared, I just have to say that what I loved most is that I met with the Lord in a way I have not done in too long. Please give our thank you to your church.
I am encouraged literally daily by your status updates! Thank you!
I can not tell you how much your posts are getting me through this time in my life. As I lay here in bed on vacation at the beach ( which is usually relaxing) I find my self laying here dreading going out to start the day with my family ( I am getting my boxing gloves on and my feet haven't even touched the floor) I needed this post this morning. It is hard to put things into perspective when you are in the middle of the trenches and that is what you posts do. Thank you so much Beth!
This is simply the best blog I know of to encourage & give hope adoptive parents & those who work in the adoption/orphan care world. Thank you Susan Hillis & Beth Templeton! Would so love to go to the conference sometime!
No comments:
Post a Comment