Hope

Dreams Come True!

/ Susan Woodward

Book Released Today

It’s in my hands now!!!! It’s for real! 

Book Photo

My story can be found  in the section “Blessings in the Midst of Chaos”  (pages 277-294) And my quote was chosen for the back of the book!  Wow! Someone pinch me!  God’s timing is just soooo good!  I’d love to say what an awesome job all of the Authors did, but i know first hand, God was all over them while they were writing.  So all of the acknowledgements go to our Lord and Savior!  

The Editor has changed all of the children(s) names for privacy reasons.

Thank you to Katherine Piper for having a dream to make a difference and allowing the Lord to use her in such an endeavor. It was tedious and i know it had to be a bit crazy communicating with so many different authors from around the world.  She showed such grace as she allowed God to guide her every decision making step along the way.  She has already made a difference!  (To all of us Authors as well)  With this book to encourage adoptive families,  she’ll continue to make a difference for many years to come.  I’ll forever be grateful for her obedience to carry out her vision and for approaching me to share our story.     

Also, a huge thank you to all of my family who helped encourage me to “go for it” when the opportunity to share our 3 adoption stories was presented. I am honored (with 27 other Christian Authors) to be able to encourage Women on their adoption journey’s. May God receive all the glory he deserves, for orchestrating such a beautiful arrangement of heartfelt love and faith shared within the books pages. It is all of our prayer to help fund forever homes for children for many years to come.  And we will, as copies of this book are sold…

Hope for the Adoption Journey is now available on Amazon!

Get your copy here: Hope for the Adoption Story -Amazon Prime

All proceeds from the book go towards helping other families adopt through the Show Hope organization.

Visit Show Hope Organization here

The Following is from the Show Hope website:

This movement began in 2003, when Mary Beth and Steven Curtis Chapman founded Show Hope after having their own eyes and hearts opened to the global orphan crisis.

Since then, Show Hope has worked to holistically approach orphan care, helping children in four key areas:

  • Adoption Aid
  • Care Centers
  • Pre+Post Adoption Support
  • Student Initiatives

Through Adoption Aid grants, Show Hope has helped more than 6,000 children from more than 60 countries, including the U.S. More than 2,500 waiting children with acute medical and special needs have received loving care through Show Hope’s Care Centers in China. Show Hope’s partnership with the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at TCU and Empowered to Connect has helped bring hope and healing to children around the world with encouraging, research based teaching in Pre+Post Adoption Support. And Show Hope prepares for the future with our Student Initiatives by educating and empowering the next generation of leaders to effectively care and make a difference in the lives of waiting children.

Book to be Released Soon!

/ Susan Woodward

28 True Post-Adoption Stories to Comfort and Encourage

Hope for the Adoption Journey, compiled by Katherine Piper, features the heartrending stories of twenty-eight women from very different circumstances who have personal experience with adopting and fostering children, both domestic and international, of various ages and backgrounds, with a wide range of needs—and who have endured to share their joy.

Are you a mother facing the chaos of adoption in your family?

Do you feel alone and overwhelmed with the struggle of adoption?

Or are you considering adoption and wondering if you can do it?

  
“Adoption can make your heart ache and your head spin, and it can turn things in your family upside down for a while. But the blessings do outweigh the chaos, and every struggle and disappointment too. Remember, you are not alone in this endeavor. There are many others who have been or are in the trenches with you. And God will never leave your side…
Love fiercely as He loves you.”
—Mother of adopted & foster children
(Susan Woodward)

All profits will be used to help prospective adoptive parents bring their children home.

Will be available on Amazon and Kindle, August 2018.

Book

 

HOPE…..Is Everything You Need!

/ Susan Woodward

There are many terms in scripture like faith, hope, love, joy, grace, peace, etc. that we come across as we read our Bibles.  What is HOPE?  A modern idea of hope is “to wish for, to expect, but without certainty of the fulfillment; to desire very much, but with no real assurance of getting your desire.” According to biblical usage, “hope” is an indication of certainty. “Hope” in scripture means “a strong and confident expectation.

Hope deals with things we can’t see or haven’t received or both.  Hope is the confident expectation we have with certainty, that Gods word is true. When we know that what the Word says has occurred or will occur in accordance to what is written…..we have HOPE.

Romans 8:24-25 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

When we possess a biblical HOPE it changes us.  It doesn’t allow us to escape from reality or keep us from problems. It doesn’t keep us drifting from one thing to the next either.  If we have a biblical HOPE based on believing Gods promises are true than it gives us results and keep us in line with life….and death.

HOPE Changes us…..

How we see things –This is our temporary home.

 What we value –We become heavenly minded instead of earthly minded.

 What we do with our lives –How we use our time, our gifts, and our talents.

HOPE gives us power to live courageously, to be all God has called us to be in Christ.

HOPE gives us Rewards & Blessings…. 

  • It gives us joy and peace   -Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
  • It gives us protection    -Psalm 33:18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His loving kindness,
  • It gives us strength, courage, boldness   -Psalm 31:24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage, All you who hope in the LORD.
  • It gives us endurance, comfort, confidence in the face of death   –Thessalonians 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope.
  • It gives us confidence in ministry   –1 Timothy 4:10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

Putting our HOPE in anything other than The Lord will hope-sometimes-thats-all-you-haveonly leave us disappointed.

God is called “the God of Hope.” This means He is the source of all real HOPE. If we are going to have HOPE (a confident expectation), it must come from Him for He alone has the power to give it. 

 –Psalm 62:5 My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him.

If you are without Christ, you are without God and without true HOPE.

HOPE depends on knowing the word of God, resting in His grace and living a spirit filled Life!

If you have a Biblical, Spiritual, Confident, HOPE In Jesus Christ…..You Really Do Have Everything!

Torn. But All My Hope Is In You. Jesus!

/ Susan Woodward

This blog was inspired by the song “All Our Hope Is In You,” sung at a Leading and Loving It conference that I attended. When I heard it for the first time, It had only been a month after I had become Torn!

Me and Bill

God is the ONLY PROMISE that remains when we are torn!                                                                                                

I’ve been there….a wounded soul.  Absolutely TORN!

I’ve known God my whole life. I have relied on him for everything as I have grown in him. I have sought him for answers through many hurts and losses over the years. Just as I have sought him with the other things in my life. But the pain I felt (and am still working through) when I lost my 47-year-old brother Bill was greater than any other feeling or emotion I have EVER experienced in my life! I have been Torn for five months now. He was a very healthy man. One day he experienced an excruciating headache which ultimately led him into the hospital. He was diagnosed with a fast growing Glioblastoma Brain Tumor. Eighteen days (together) later, we said goodbye forever. He left behind an amazing wife, son and daughter, both parents, two brothers, myself, nieces/nephews, and many others who loved him dearly. The loss was and is still very real. It shattered so many lives, broke hearts, and made us question the prayers we prayed. With his sickness unexplained, we had many days that remained unclear and with that brought us doubts and fear.  Many lives have been TORN!

But in the middle of my (what felt like) empty soul, all I had was HOPE! Hope in God! And it was MORE THAN ENOUGH! My entire family experienced the peace of holding onto Hope. We believe what God’s word promises us. We know we will see Bill again. There is No other name, No other way, to get through a tragic loss, or any other hurt in our life, but by our HOPE in Jesus!

The hope I am talking about is not a feeling or an emotion.  This Hope is the knowledge of facts. It is far superior to that of the world.  Instead of a hope that leaves me wishing or hoping for something to happen, my hope is solid. It is concrete evidence because it is grounded in the Word of God!  A hope that is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” ~Heb 11:1   It is a hope that is like faith…a faith that cannot be moved by circumstances or what the eyes see because an unseen God is seen in His faithfulness.

So as a believer I am “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” ~Titus 2:13. And with that Hope I can remain steadfast, find peace in all circumstances and regain my Joy that was robbed from deep within my soul. I am so thankful that “everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” ~1 John 3:3. I hold onto his promises and grow my Hope and Faith as I stay in the word daily!

When you are TORN….If you’re desperate for understanding, clarity and answers like I was or similar, remember… that Our Only Hope Is In Him! 

No Matter What We Face…

Broken hearts, Unanswered prayers,

Shattered lies, And Sicknesses unexplained.

Doubts and fears, or Wounded souls,

Days unclear, Regretful pasts,

And Hurting lives in need.

No Other Name, No Other way….Our God, Is our ONLY Hope!

“the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope”  ~Rom 15:13

“we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe”  ~1 Tim 4:10

“Jesus Christ [is] our hope” ~1 Tim 1:

 Look up the song that inspired me on Youtube and be blessed:

All our Hope is in You. Central Christian Church. Drew Bodine. Torn Series

Christian-definition-of-Hope