hope-in-cloudy-skies

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

Yesssss omt I’d literally love that!!! Thank you so much, that actually sounds AMAZING!!!

A lot of times God calls us to do things, and we fall short. I myself have been falling victim to the devil’s traps lately, and it is with no sense of innocence that I express my shame on this matter. I need help. While Imm trying to recognize the areas that I’ve grown in, I’ve lost most of my worldly friends because of the views that I’ve adopted and claimed as my own in being a daughter of Christ, the living God himself. I don’t feel like sitting down and sobbing about it, either. I’m just… stuck. I’m trying to find things that I enjoy doing (and that I’m good at!!) in and outside of the house, but with no in-person friends and a severe lack of the ability to spend time with my family (without argument, of course), I’ve fallen into a habitual laziness.

And this is NOT cutting it! Being stern doesn’t work, being gentle doesn’t work, but as an empath, when someone else expresses their excitement in a task or project, I can’t help but feel excited, too. This is why I try to surround myself with people!! I refuse to fall back into the old habit of being around people who bring me down and put aside godly views, though, because as much as I love my Gentile brothers and sisters… it’s just not healthy for my spiritual growth in the place I am with God right now.

I need advice, my friends!!! Please share your hobbies, little tasks, fun, creative exercises, or anything else that you spend your time doing!! I want to rid myself of this spirit of laziness, but I know I’ll need a little help. 😉

God bless, my friends!!!

~Until next time, Hopey ✨💖🥰🕊️

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

Praise the Lord you woke up today. Praise the Lord you have His word. Praise the Lord you have His presence. Praise the Lord you have HIM!! No excuses!! No matter what, you have all these things!!

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

finally, it makes sense

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

A lot of times God calls us to do things, and we fall short. I myself have been falling victim to the devil’s traps lately, and it is with no sense of innocence that I express my shame on this matter. I need help. While Imm trying to recognize the areas that I’ve grown in, I’ve lost most of my worldly friends because of the views that I’ve adopted and claimed as my own in being a daughter of Christ, the living God himself. I don’t feel like sitting down and sobbing about it, either. I’m just… stuck. I’m trying to find things that I enjoy doing (and that I’m good at!!) in and outside of the house, but with no in-person friends and a severe lack of the ability to spend time with my family (without argument, of course), I’ve fallen into a habitual laziness.

And this is NOT cutting it! Being stern doesn’t work, being gentle doesn’t work, but as an empath, when someone else expresses their excitement in a task or project, I can’t help but feel excited, too. This is why I try to surround myself with people!! I refuse to fall back into the old habit of being around people who bring me down and put aside godly views, though, because as much as I love my Gentile brothers and sisters… it’s just not healthy for my spiritual growth in the place I am with God right now.

I need advice, my friends!!! Please share your hobbies, little tasks, fun, creative exercises, or anything else that you spend your time doing!! I want to rid myself of this spirit of laziness, but I know I’ll need a little help. 😉

God bless, my friends!!!

~Until next time, Hopey ✨💖🥰🕊️

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

So I was reading my Bible today and I stumbled across a verse in Hebrews (8:5 NIV, to be exact) that said the following:

“They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: ‘See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’”

And I’d always wondered why the building of the temple, the tabernacle, the tables, churches, lamps, EVERYTHING, was so detailed in the Bible… but now I know. God was not only revealing to humans the beautiful architecture of heaven so that He could be properly worshipped, but He was giving them an example out of it. For reference, this is what the tabernacle would have looked like:

Beautiful, isn’t it? Just like EVERYTHING that God creates. So while this verse does tell us that the tabernacle is a copy of the one in heaven, I believe that it has a deeper meaning. “A copy and shadow of what is in heaven…” just like our hearts should be. When we mirror the structures God tells us to build, they turn out beautiful and awesome. So why shouldn’t we do the same thing with our hearts?? God is literally perfect, why don’t we do our beat to be like Him? I’M JUST SAYIN’!!!

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

Hey friends!!! I didn’t post my Bible study yesterday so here it is today!!! If y’all have any questions, things you think are wrong, or even just anything you’d like to discuss, let me know!!! I love you guys and I’m here for each and every one of you!!!

God bless, my friends, for He is always with you!!! 💞💞💞

~Hopey, OUT!!! 💞🥰☦️🕊️

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

Well you see. NOW I MUST.

GUYS I’M A CHILD OF GOD (a silly little guy 😼)

LOVE YA’LL!!

~ HOPEY OUT (for now 😉😌)

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

Hey, everyone!! I know I haven’t been posting very much lately, but I wanted to come on here today and be honest with y’all. I know that as a Christian a lot of people expect me to be perfect and “don’t sin or you’ll go to hell,” which is actually the version of “God” that I was raised on. I’ve come really far in my journey and I know that positive words are what a lot of you followed me for, but I really wanted to be honest with you guys today.

I am a sinner.

I struggle with gluttony, pride, complaining way too much, and a TON of other things, but today in particular I wanted to talk about my struggle with self-harm.

I fell back into temptation today and c*t myself for the first time in a year. And yeah, that’s deep, that’s dark, I get it. “How could you do that? You have God, are you not thankful for Him? What’s the point of changing your eating habits if you’re just going to harm His temple in a different way?” And I guess my answer is I don’t know, I am, and most importantly God says that all sins will be dealt with equally on the day of judgement. So my self harm is the same as sexual sin, the same as abortion, the same as being gay, the same as hate, the same as murder… and all of those other things that a lot of Christians hate their God given people for. Every time we sin we are SINNING. God is going to judge us all the same, and I really do hope that this message will guide you to repent just a little bit more today!!

But that’s not the point I came on here to make today (even though it is a God-given important one!!). Today I wanted to let you guys know that yeah, we all struggle. So many people in my life are under the assumption that I’m perfectly happy all the time except for minor inconveniences and yes, my home life. People see me as this confident, outgoing, HAPPY person, and that’s not who I feel like I am. Guys, I STRUGGLE. And I know that SO many of you can relate to this, and that’s why it’s so important that I talk about this today. Because I wrote to God today and I said “God, why do I do the things I don’t want to do?” And it brought me right back to Paul’s letter, and I know that even SAINT PAUL struggled with sin!! It’s crazy to think that these people who we look up to, these people who have done such AMAZING things, struggle with the same temptations and emotions and thoughts that we do. And even so, GOD FORGIVES THEM.

God forgives us. God forgives YOU. I watched The Gospel of John today, and… wow. Just. Wow. Have you really thought about how crazy people must have thought Jesus was? Form the people’s point of view: Out of nowhere this literal son of a carpenter starts going in the synagogues, the Holy places, and proclaiming to be God’s Son. Now see to us this is normal. But to someone who believed that Abraham was the father of all and that proclaiming to be God’s child was blasphemy… this is just a guy with the case of the crazies. And Jesus was HUMAN, too. Jesus was tempted too. The devil probably tried to make Him anxious. “Look at the crowd, they’re gonna think you’re crazy! No one is going to believe you- all these people, all of your children are going to die and you’re going to helpless to watch!” (No, the devil probably didn’t say these things exactly, but Jesus WAS tempted, and we know this from the scriptures!) And I’m not saying this to make you say “but JESUS never fell into temptation! I DO! I’M SUCH A FAILURE!” Because I know that’s what I tell myself a lot of the time. But instead, I’m saying this to let you all know that GOD HIMSELF KNOWS WHAT TEMPTATION FEELS LIME.

GOD ALMIGHTY KNOWS YOUR STRUGGLE!!! And you are NOT God. You ARE going to fall into temptation, and it’s your job to ask God to help you out of it!! And faith is so important here, but this is also where works comes into the matter!! We are saved by the faith that God will help us out of the pit of sin and death, but if we sit there and keep sinning why should hHe? We’re just going to purposely fall back in. We have to help God help us. We have to make the effort to stop sinning, because without the effort God cannot help us. Do you know why people go to hell? Because God loves them enough to respect their decision not to want Him. Do you know why people are stuck in sin? Because God respects their decision not to make the effort to be free of it.

Peter couldn’t have seen through the faith to walk on water without making the effort to walk in the first place. GOD IS NOT GOING TO GIVE YOU SOMETHING IF YOU ARE STANDING STILL!!! You need to show God that you really want something, because God sees your heart!

And me, I’m going to make the effort. I fell into temptation today, and the temptation is still here. I am being tempted RIGHT NOW. But am I going to fall into sin? No. I’m going to fall to my knees instead. I’m going to cry out to God to help my disbelief, to help me rely on His strength instead of my own, and I am going to turn to my Bible instead of a razor blade.

For this next week I am posting an update every day, to prove to you all that you CAN break those chains of sin with God’s help!! I invite you to do a daily Bible study with me, to eat all-natural, to work out (or run or walk or WHATEVER!!), and to pray for all the things I am thankful for daily with me!

We’re in this together, my brothers and sisters in Christ. We are all one body, united to be a whole Church!! You are forgiven, you are loved, and you are saved so long as you still truly want to be!! God loves you SO much, and so do I!!

~Hopey, OUT!!! ✌️🕊️☦️🥰💪

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

Hello! I just came across your post and it was honestly a beautiful reminder, who ever told you that you were too much used the wrong word, you are abundant in light and loveliness, just from reading the post I can tell you must be a wonderful person to be around and you provide warmth to those lucky enough to experience you in full, I've often felt a lot of shame that I wasn't a good enough christian, and as I am right now i'd even dare to call myself lukewarm, I would seek validation from the world and chased after what they chased after. and I felt like if i came before god or other christians they'd look at me in disappointment, but this reminded me that god is all loving and forgiving and he doesn't hate me and loves us all deeply, and I can come to him about anything as said in his word :] so I wanted to thank you for that post and sharing your feelings! and maybe ask for a tip on becoming less lukewarm and forming a closer relationship with God!

To this absolutely beautiful and amazing person I want to say thank you so much for your kind words, I’ve not always been happy with how I treat others so your words mean the world to me!! God’s validation comes in so many ways, and because of the things I’ve been praying for lately I honestly do believe that God is working in you my beautiful sibling in Christ!!! One of the biggest things that helped (and IS helping) me out of being lukewarm is not relying in my feelings.

I know, I know! You’ve heard this a million times. But how do you ACTUALLY stop relying on your feelings?? One thing that really helped me was actually a piece of scripture, and that verse was 1 John 4:16. “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

This verse is SO incredibly important in my faith. In anyone’s faith, really. This verse not only gives us the solid description of God that everyone can turn to and truly understand, but at the same time proves to us that God will NEVER stop feeling the exact same way towards us. And that way is love. Let me explain it to you like this:

I am human. I can never STOP being human. That is what I am. Now God, God is the great I Am. And what is he exactly? Well, 1 John 4:16 tells us that he is love. God is love in the purest form, and once you can truly convince yourself of that you will have broken through the uneven, broken faith that comes from relying only on feelings. God does not change. Whether you feel him with you or not, God. Is. Love. And because He is the purest form of love, he wants your love to be real. And how do you grow in love with someone? You spend time with them!! I repeat this verse constantly, even when I’m not particularly FEELING God. In the moments that I DO feel God, He feels completely compassionate and unjudging. This feeling… is love. When I feel loved I try to truly rest in the moment, to let myself absorb the feeling and memorize it so that when I DONT feel loved by God Ican sit down, breathe, and draw upon the feeling and remember the experience. And because God never changes I can know for a fact that He is still the same love that I felt then!!!

Another big thing for me is, when I’m having negative thoughts or my brain is trying to convince me “oh, that’s God’s voice! He is MAD at you!!” I just say the verse. “God is love.” And my brain will be like “but” and I just have to say “No. God. Is. Love.” I just have to say NO. I have to PRAY. I have to say “Lord, my goodness gracious I can’t do this by myself. I NEED you. Please, please help me.” As the scripture says, “we know AND RELY ON the love God has for us.” We RELY on God to guide us through our pain, to keep us from falling down and to lift us up into his tender embrace!!

The final thing I would suggest is, whenever you’re feeling upset or angry I would immediately go into prayer. Call upon that feeling of love again and just say ti God, “Lord, I’m upset. I’m angry. I don’t know what to do and I don’t want to hurt anyone (or i DO want to hurt someone), I need your help.” And just sit there. Know that the Holy Spirit is within you. Often times I ask God to have the Holy Spirit work within me and calm my heart (or just directly ask the Holy Spirit because He is God lol), and I just breathe for a second and really focus on the favt that not only is God all around me, but that his Holy Spirit is INSIDE OF ME. God is, quite literally, inside of me. When I feel like God isnt with me and so “whats the point of praying, whats the point of reading my Bible?” I have to sit back and say “Am I the only presence in the room?” Or simply “Am I alone?” And really under that ‘alone’ isnt just a state of being, its a lack of God. And every single time the answer is NO!!!

And no, I’m not perfect. I break down, I scream and bawl my eyes put and yell at God and ask him “why? Why would you do this to me?” And I tell him “God i hate this,” and “God im so mad at you,” and THAT IS OKAY!! Think back on Job. He was SO UPSET that he asked God to kill him. And hey, I’ve done that too. But you know what? That doesnt change the fact that God is with us. Ive gotten to the point where my heart was so hardened that I didnt feel guilty sinning. I DID NOT FEEL GUILTY SINNING. But I still prayed. You understand me, soldier? 😉

KEEP. ON. PRAYING. Even if you’re not bowing ypur head, if you’re just walking around your room and being like “God. I legit DO NOT KNOW what to say right now.” And babbling about random nonsense… do not stop talking to God. NEVER STOP TALKING TO GOD!!!!

—————————————————————————

ADDITIONAL TIPS:

- Christian music is amazing, I recommend Josiah Queen and Casting Crowns are good for slower, sadder stuffs, and Tauren Wells and Forrest Frank are epic for more boppy stuffs!!! Journey To Bethlehem is an awesome musical if you’re into that too, Ultimate Deception is on SOOOOOOOOOOOO many of my playlists! 🤣

- Accountability partners are awesome, just as friends and family in Christ but also as partners to build you up!! If you’re interested I’m on a Discord server called Jesus & Coffee and everyone on there is incredibly sweet and supportive!! There’s also local groups and stuff at churches too, even though I don’t actually go to church (I’m not allowed to because parents) so I couldn’t exactly give you a personal experience on those!

- Honestly just talk to Jesus like you would the God of the Universe combined with your best friend. Be respectful, kind, and humble, but at the same time don’t be afraid to tell God what you’re thinking! Prayers don’t always have to be formal and “Dear God, insert the Lord’s prayer here, In Jesus name, Amen.” They can be just telling God about your day, because wven though yes, he does already know (because God is outside of time and we are inside of it), he still wants to hear from his kiddos on earth!!

- Don’t get too repetitive/robotic in prayer to where you’re repeating the exact same prayer. If you dont know where to start I’d recommend looking through some guidelines, but feel free to always pray outside the box! 😜

- God!! Loves!! You!! More than you could ever imagine!!! If you feel like you’re too far gone… believe me, you’re not. Saul was a murderer pf God’s people… and God transformed him into “Paul, preacher and vessel of the Holy Spirit.” David turned away from Hod to be with Bathsheba, and God still loved him when he decided to turn back!!! Remember the Prodigal son- THAT IS YOU!!! And dont ever forget that, no matter how many times you turn away… God is still love, and because that is his very nature that will never change!!!

Thank you so much again for your loving kindness, I can’t wait to see you grow my beautiful friend!! <333

- Hopey, OUT!! 🕊️🥰🫶💞

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

God has blessed me with the beautiful things that make him happy, and I’ve realized lately that all of the things I have about myself the Lord takes joy in as well!

Because my creative juices have been flowing lately I thought I’d share a poem about Christ that I wrote last night!!! <333

How did you know my name?

Is my question to the daisies,

Flowing to and fro

With not a care in the world.

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

And though they never answer,

I ask the same question day after day

And year after year

Hoping that one day soon

I will hear a reply.

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

I know there will be many more months.

Still, I cannot help but smile

Because the spread of the wildflowers makes my heart young

And my spirit light again.

May God bless you beautiful people, I love you all!!! <3333

~Hopey, OUT!!! 🕊️🫶✨🥰

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

Yes ma’am!!! Life is so beautiful, and even the bad things that happen still happen for a reason!!! Through all of the good times and the bad God is there for us all, and having memories to look back on is one of the mist beautiful things about living in this world!!!

sin isn't what makes life fun

living a life with God isn't boring or uneventful, even though it may feel like that sometimes when everyone around you is partying and clubbing

BUT HERE IS YOUR REMINDER THAT THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FROM GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

still, you're bound to feel excluded or left out sometimes, so here's some fun things to do (infinitely more fun if you have some ride or die friends to do them with you):

go on a walk and ask siri left or right to see where you end up

go on a picnic

google national parks/forests near you and drive there (even better if it's a waterfall)

run to a relatively close place that you usually drive to

try to bake a cake without a recipe

go outside in the rain to dance

dress to the nines just to go to a normal place like mcdonald's or walmart

go stargazing/cloudwatching

try a new sport you haven't tried before

trashbagging

explore the place you live like you're a tourist

night swimming

try to climb a tree again

go to a trampoline park

can you still do a cartwheel?

throw a party without the drugs and alcohol... it's the dancing, music, and being together that makes it fun

learn something new, a new skill, instrument, language, concept, anything that interests you

buy disposable cameras to document all of it

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

Trust the Process ✨ He does it because he loves you

Credit goes to Susan; steakntatters (Pinterest)

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

In Jesus name I pray that this post will reach those who need it, and that those beautiful people will have the strength and trust in Christ to receive this message with willing and softened hearts… AMEN!!!

After a really difficult time in my feelings today, I just wanted to come on here and be real with you all for a moment. God does not rely on our feelings. And I know that in the times of despair, or suffering, or exhaustion… sometimes we might not feel like God is there at all.

But He is. God is always there. And today I learned a really, REALLY valuable lessons. To anyone struggling with your prayer life, this is for you. I read in the New Testament in the gospels that we shouldn’t say too many words in prayer because they become meaningless, and that less is more. And I took this to mean that I wasn’t allowed to tell God about my day, that I wasn’t allowed to rant to him about my feelings, that I just needed to say the things that needed immediate clarification and be done with it because anything else was TOO MUCH.

And as someone who’s been told her whole life that she’s too much, that really got to me. I got scared. I stopped praying to God with my whole heart and started being afraid to say the wring thing. But these verse are NOT to find shame in us!! When Jesus was saying “less is more,” he was talking to the Pharisees about how their mouths praised and preached but their hearts were turned away from God. They prayed long prayers not to gain the approval of the Lord, but to gain the approval of the people. And then I got to thinking. Jesus prayed ALL NIGHT to God!! How’s that for “long prayers?” So when you pray to God, pray what’s on your heart. I’ve been told to treat him like a best friend, but I say talk to him like you would talk to the perfect person. Why? Because he WAS the perfect person. When God the Son became man and lived his time out here on earth, he was COMPLETELY sinless. And if you met the perfect person, you would be able to trust them completely and honestly. And thats how you should talk to God. Completely and honestly. Tell him the deepest desires of your heart. Tell him about the little things in your life that are just crazy annoying or the little things that you can’t help but see his wonders work in. Tell him about your feelings, when youre angry, when youre sad, when youre happy… just dont stop talking to God. Because God doesnt want you to be perfect, God KNOWS that we are sinners and that is exactly why he sent his Son Jesus Christ to die for us on the cross!! God wants areal relationship with you. And what relationship doesnt have its ups and downs? Just because God is perfect and has no faults doesn’t mean that you are too, and in fact based on 1 John 1:8 (“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” NIV Bible) if we claim that we are without faults and therefore not sinners, we cannot truly accept God’s grace because, in our minds, there is nothing to accept.

So take heart, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ. God’s grace is made complete in the acceptance of our sins, because without sin there would be no reason for grace. And that Holy grace extends to all of us, because as Romans 10:9 says…

From here on out if anyone needs prayers and/or support feel free to leave a note in the comments or even DM me anonymously if you don’t want anyone to see who you are!!! I am here for each and every one of you and will do my best to help you all individually as the Lord God guides me!! In addition to that we are ALL a part of the body of Christ, and as the Lord shared with me recently if one part of the body has a bruise the rest of the body works to heal it!!

~Hopey, OUT!!! ✨🕊️🫶🥰

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

For all the unbelievers and those uncertain about God’s love for you, and for all those who say that God is not good because evil exists…

In Genesis, when God created mankind, he made it so that they knew no evil. In the garden of Eden, God made it so that man could choose. And Satan is the one who interfered with that Satan is the one who took the form of a snake and convinced Eve to take the apple off the tree. Now, because God gave me the ability to choose, she was able to do this. The definition of free will is being able to do whatever you want whenever you want however you want. Very meaning of this free will means that whoever has free will should be able to do, like I said, whatever they want. Because we are unable to multiply ourselves and shrink ourselves and supply any item we want with a snap of the finger, we do not have free will by definition. What we have is the ability to choose. And because God gave us the ability to choose he did not interfere when we chose evil. When Adam and Eve became aware that they were naked in the garden, God was upset. He said “who told you that you were naked?” And because they knew right from wrong God knew that they had taken a bite out of the apple from the tree of life, which he explicitly had told them not to do. Now because God loves us, he made love a choice. If God had not given us free, will, we would have loved him as slaves. we would not have had a choice, but to be loyal to him. Now God, because he is just and right, did not want to force us to love him. God wants a real relationship with us. So he gives us a choice. Just like we chose to do wrong in the garden of Eden we can choose whether or not to love him. So because Satan influenced Adam and eves choice with the Apple, we now know if evil. Because we know of evil, we have the choice to do evil. Now, as I said, God is all right, and just so he’s not going to take back the ability to choose. A lot of the things that God does are above us because he is God. And only God knows the full truth, because God IS the full truth!!

Now, because God is just and must put an end into sin and punish those who have sinned (for this is true righteousness, and we all must be judged for our actions), he still loves us. And because of this great and undying love that he has for us, he chose, and might I repeat that the CREATOR of the UNIVERSE *chose,* to sacrifice his only begotten son for us. Look at John 3:16 one of the most widely known verses in the Bible. If you read the Bible, I’m sure that you will know what I’m talking about. God gave us the ability to choose because he wants an authentic relationship with us. If someone kidnapped you and locked you in their basement and told you you’re gonna be my wife and you’re gonna have sex with me and you’re gonna be my slave for as long as you live or else I’ll kill you, that wouldn’t be true love. God is not a kidnapper, nor is he going to force us to be his slave. Because he truly loves us, he wants the best for us.

Because Satan brought into this world, God offered a way out.

And that way out??

THE ONE AND ONLY JESUS CHRIST!!!

I hope this has helped anyone struggling with their faith, God has really used me to help others understand today and has even brought others to help me understand at the SAME TIME!!!!!

I LOVE YOU MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST!!! <333

~Hopey, OUT!! 🫶✨🕊️🥰

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

Verse of the day:

I want us all to think about the simple incredibility of this for a moment.

God, the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE, decided himself, because he loves us, to bring his son to death for us. He offered a sacrifice for us. Just think about the logistics of that for a minute. Dating back to the beginning of humanity, we as tiny little human beings offered sacrifices to God because we loved him for creating us and wanted to appease him and make him happy. Those who didn’t do this displeased the Lord because they weren’t giving anything up to him. Keep in mind that God knew from the very beginning that mankind would turn away from him and betray him. But the big message in this is that, even through all of our disobedience and our unwillingness to extend a loving hand towards our heavenly Father, God STILL loved us SO MUCH that He, and might i just stress that this is God, that the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE gave us… US… a sacrifice. And not only was that sacrifice legitimately God the Son himself, but He was also by very meaning of the word GOD’S SON. God sacrificed his own son to save us because he loved us that much!! <33 🫶✨🕊️🥰

[hope-in-cloudy-skies]

Jesus is always waiting, you know 😼🫶😌✨🕊️