Sometimes finding and hanging onto hope throughout the holidays is a daunting task, especially in the face of lingering doubt. I feel it strong this season. A kind of doubt that snuffs out hope as soon as the prayers leave my lips. And my heart is weary of crying out for God to move. This mountain grows with every word uttered toward the heavens. The faith that stands warrior-strong today yields to questions and doubts as tomorrow dawns. Is God really listening? Does He hear my heart cry? Why can't I hear Him in the midst of all this silence? When will this mountain give way? I wonder if all this hope I'm supposed to grab hold of is meant for someone else. If I've somehow missed out on the secret. If I'll forever be swimming upstream, and if faith is some empty formula Continue Reading
Made to Brave a Wanting Heart
Wanting. It's a condition of the heart we are all too familiar with. Perhaps you've been wanting something for a very long time. Perhaps in all your waiting, you've experienced great disappointment. The kind that makes you question your faith. If so, you'll find strength and comfort in the words of our guest writer, Koki Oyuke, who shares a bit of her Made for Brave story, all the way from Nairobi, Kenya. There are times you know you should burst out crying. Times when you're fighting tears as they stain the white of your eye because it's not a good time. There are people here. It's not dark yet. There's always a reason to cover, but when tears don't release they dive in deep. And you can feel your heart getting heavy―insides too full, tinged with pain that wants to Continue Reading
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How to Find Brave in Seasons of Unanswered Prayer
Newspaper headlines all over the world recently featured an amazing answer to prayer: my friend Andrew Brunson was freed from imprisonment in Turkey. My family cried tears of relief when this innocent pastor, persecuted for his faith, went free on October 12, 2018. What no newspaper could document was the anguish of prayer that seemingly went unanswered for two years. My family and I served in Turkey for 16 years, and Andrew’s case struck a chord with us because we lived in the same city. We also knew the nightmare our friend was living could have just as easily happened to us. We could hardly believe it when we first received news of Andrew’s arrest in October, 2016. We prayed each day, confident that God would free an innocent man. Yet the situation worsened rather than improving. Continue Reading