The first couple years of our journey of following God to encounter His fulfilled promises, were very painful. I don’t even think I can fully put into words the amount of fear that I was facing, as a single mom with no income, in a tiny hotel room and with no car. 

So many times, God stretched my faith in ways that were beyond what I imagined my threshold to handle was. There was one specific time when we were supposed to check out within 8 minutes, and we had nowhere to go and no vehicle. 

I had hoped so desperately that God would send us His tangible promise to cover our room. God did exactly as I had hoped, but the rescue money of His promise did not arrive until almost 3 minutes before check out. 

I remember walking to the hotel front desk, fighting off tears in my eyes. I was so thankful that God saved us and at the same time, I was in anguish beyond words from facing such a terrifying situation with so much pressure. Having to wait until the last imaginable moment was horrible to endure. 

However, like birthing a child, that pain turned to relief and joy in the twinkle of an eye. That night, I cried myself to sleep from the trauma of facing such fear, and from the joy of gratitude. The bitterness was mingled with sweetness, and my heart was both overflowing with love, and recovering from the trauma of the whole ordeal. 

During the faith test, I had to constantly redirect my thoughts to God’s promises, through these love letters that I share, because when things got intense, it was a struggle to stay alive. Part of me was in drowning in anguish, wanting to escape the pain, all the while, Holy Spirit was reminding me of His promise, and the hope of the dream He gave me. 

That night, after I fell asleep in a pool of my own dried tears, God gave me a vision of myself on the top of a super tall building in downtown Chicago. The building was swaying from the strong winds, and while I was clinging for dear life to the top of the building, I was saying, “I hope that HOPE is strong enough”…because all I had left at that point was hope…even hope against all odds. 

After the vision, God said that the hardship that I was walking through would become something glorious in the end, and it will tell a story of God’s intentional love in a way that has never been done. 

It has been just over a year since God led us to Chicago, with only enough money for one night in a hotel, and a pocket full of PROMISE. Since then, it has been a roller coaster of ups and downs, and God has been faithful to fulfill His promises over and over again. 

The morning before God led us to venture to a new state, He said to me, “Follow Me to the Land of Tangible Hopes”. This is a time when He is wrapping up this journey, even last night, God gave me promises of having a home of our own from Him, given by His GRACE. 

For the past month, we have been blessed to stay in one of the most beautiful Airbnb apartments, in the cutest part of Chicago I have ever seen. It has been a breath of fresh air, and a time to recover from the strenuous testings of faith from before. 

Our check-out was coming close, about a week away, and the thought of it actually made me cry. I wasn’t ready to go back to the vigorous faith tests, and the thought of packing up for again was daunting to me. I have been so homesick, and exhausted from it all, I just needed to breathe….

I was praying to God to show me where we will go next and what to do. When I was praying, I asked Him to come early with whatever rescue that He had. Because I have trauma from the “last minute” rescues. That was really-scary to go through. Even though my fears did not happen, facing them was painfully terrifying. 

As I was praying, I paused, and then God said, “What do you hope for, Dannette?”. I took a deep breath and had a real honest thought. What I really hoped for was to extend this beautiful apartment that was gifted to us the past month and to have more time here. 

But it seemed impossible, because it was VERY expensive and I couldn’t even imagine that someone would cover it AGAIN. However, since God was encouraging me to pray for my hopes, I followed that guidance that God was giving. 

I started to give God a very detailed prayer request. I prayed that the same person would offer to cover another month when we are at. 

Not only did I pray for the generosity of another month, but I prayed that the person that God had helping us, would send me a message and offer it very soon. 

I have been feeling extra weary from being pressed so much by faith and from moving and all the chaos of losing my car and getting it returned. The thought of having to do anything more than receive at that time, was just overwhelming. I was hurting and exhausted from it all. 

The VERY next morning, I woke up to a message from the person who had paid for the month at our room before. This person asked me about the room and I shared about how I had hoped to stay another month. 

I didn’t hear back anything that day, but spent the day thinking about my hope of staying, and I even imagined what it would be like if the room was paid for another month. I allowed my heart to open to HOPE and to feel the joy of getting good news. 

Every time I thought about the situation, I would make my mind up to only think about my hopes coming true, and leave no room for fears or doubts, or back up options. For this highly concentrated time, I just rested in HOPE. 

The next morning, I was very eager to see if there was a sign of good news, and there was! I woke up to many messages from the Airbnb, confirming that we were paid to stay in the same lovely apartment for another month! 

God make my hopes come true, and He covered me in the outcome of hopes, like vibrant green leaves on a tree. 

The reason that hope is so strong is that HOPE GROWS INTO FAITH. When all you have is hope, then just hope with all your heart. A persistent, unrelenting hope is attached to the fulfillment, like an anchor holding a boat in place. 

The Strong’s word for Hope is “cord or attachment”, to have hope is to have confident expectation. Faith is the evidence (the title deed and confirmation) of things hoped for being fulfilled and Divinely guaranteed. 

When we allow ourselves to lose hope, then it makes our soul sick with fear, doubt, and worry. However, when our hopes come to the surface, like a new tree, our hopes become a Tree of tangible life and beauty. 

To hope is to trust. When we hope, we don’t know what will happen and we have a choice. We can press into hope to see the fulfillment come, or we can give into the fears and doubts of having bad outcomes. 

When we put our trust in hope, then hope grows into faith, and faith comes out as the flourishing outcome that we wanted so deeply to come. 

When I was going through my hope prayers, I found that the more I laid myself onto my hopes as my only option, then the more I felt confident with faith that it was certain. 

That morning before I saw the gift of my hopes come true, I was expectant, and eager with excitement, like a child looking for gifts under an illuminated evergreen tree. There is wonder in hope. There is a child-like faith in staying expectant with hope. 

Hope not only protects us from the pain of encountering our fears, but it is the seed that causes our heart desires to appear. The next time that you don’t know what God is going to do, and you are at a crossroads of being uncertain, then ask yourself, “What do you hope for?”….and then pray for your hopes to be done. 

While you are waiting to see the realization of your hopes, then rest in your hopes as being done, and allow yourself to open up to really believing and anticipating that your hopes will be fulfilled for you.

When you don’t know what will happen….when you don’t know what to do….when you don’t know what to pray….then plant a seed of HOPE and hold on with child-like expectancy to see the hoped-for outcome to arrive. 

The best thing about hopes being fulfilled, is they always feel like a Holiday surprise. Because with hope, it is not known. Just as Romans 8:24 explains, hope does not always feel certain, but it is a HOPE that we will receive that can grow into Faith and the rescue of fulfillment. 

“For in this hope we were saved [by faith]. But hope [the object of] which is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he already sees?”

There is always a shadow of doubt beside hope. Hope is a choice. To hope is to be vulnerable. It means taking a risk of getting hurt or disappointed. But if we persist in hope with our whole heart open to receive, then that hope will rise into faith to bring fulfillment. 

God will meet us at our willingness to choose hope, and He will do immensely more than we can even think, or dream. Hope is where we find relief…and God often leads through our hopes to reveal what He has planned. Follow hopes, my dear friend. 

Because hopes fulfilled are a tree of life—and a fruition of a very precious, intentional love from God. He loves you so much, and He loves it when you choose hope over every past sorrow, pain, fear, or doubt. 

The thing about hope, is you have to go all in. There is always a temptation to think about pain, when you are presented with hope…

I could have thought about the past sorrows of our harder times, but I couldn’t even fathom thinking about that pain, so I chose to take a risk on hope. You either hope, or you don’t. Choose to hope in your hopes, and ask God to bring life to those hopes. 

A fulfilled hope will cover you in the outcome that you are wanting to see, like the lush emerald canopy of a flourishing tree. 

Many blessings to you, and I pray all of your most cherished hopes come true! 

Love Dannette 

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