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A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. -O\u2019 Holy Night<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0Flame of Hope<\/strong> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n A thrill of hope seizes and surprises me, a flicker of joy warms my weary soul.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n May this thrill of hope create a spark that ignites into a flame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n May I become an illuminator, carrying my small flame to the dark and lonely places, the worn thin, weary spaces, the wounded and hurting faces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The darkness surrounds me yet Jesus, light of the world, has come to pierce and shatter the night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n —–<\/p>\n\n\n\n May the thrill of hope create a spark that ignites into a flame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I look and long for daybreak, with tender mercy He guides my feet into a path of peace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The darkness surrounds me yet Jesus, light of the world comes to pierce and shatter the night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I am a child of the light, born of God, His fire in me burning bright. <\/p>\n\n\n\n —–<\/p>\n\n\n\n I look and long for daybreak, with tender mercy He guides my feet into a path of peace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n May I become an illuminator, carrying my small flame to the dark and lonely places, the worn thin, weary spaces, the wounded and hurting faces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I am a child of the light, born of God, His fire in me burning bright. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A thrill of hope seizes and surprises me, a flicker of joy warms my weary soul. <\/p>\n\n\n\n —–<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cbecause of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.\u201d\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Luke 1:78-79 NIV<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n John 1:4-5 NIV<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n This month marks ten years since I wrote my first post for Magnoliaheart. I began writing to share what was stirring in our hearts for adoption and to invite friends and family to join us on our family\u2019s journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our daughter Hope has been home now for five and a half years. Her name really sums up the last ten years as we waited and prayed for her for more than four years and in bringing her home and all that has unfolded in helping her to heal and grow. Hope has grown so much, each new day she continues to surprise and delight us with her love and exuberant joy for life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It has truly been a journey of enduring hope, at times dark and uncertain, hard and heartbreaking yet we as a family have grown in strength and in faith. The addition of our daughter Hope has given our family the gift of much laughter and joy and we have learned to be more gracious and patient with ourselves and one another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I want to thank each of you for your continued support, prayers and encouragement through this last decade. This has been a gracious space for me where I have felt the freedom to come as I am and share my heart and our family\u2019s journey. In sharing, I have discovered how much I enjoy writing and that it has been a hope-filled and healing outlet where I am able to work out my faith and learn to lean into God\u2019s faithfulness and love more and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I plan to continue to write as often as I am able and my hope and prayer is that you will continue to come as you are and that this space will be a gracious and welcoming place for you as well. May my overreaching message proclaim God\u2019s goodness and the truth of who we all are, His beloved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n From our family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May your flame of hope burn bright and brilliant during this holiday season and in the New Year to come! <\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are not on my mailing list yet and would like to receive my posts via email, you can subscribe by scrolling to the bottom of this post. When you sign up you will NOT be flooded with emails from me. Instead consider my posts as small surprise gifts from me sprinkled sparingly throughout each year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I love hearing from you so if you’re stirred to do so, leave a comment by selecting the “Share your Heart” section below. As always, please feel free to share with a friend if you found this post to be an encouragement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sent from my iPhone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Throughout Advent, I have been reflecting on God\u2019s light in this dark world and His light guiding me through a dark season and through difficult situations that I am encountering. I wrote a poem in response to all that is stirring within me, asking the question, \u201cWhat is my role in this climate of ever increasing darkness?\u201d.\u00a0I hope it warms your heart with a renewed sense of hope and joy. Fanning the small yet fierce flame that burns within you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,6,7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/flame23.jpg?fit=632%2C640&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YMk4-AN","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2281"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2281"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2295,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2281\/revisions\/2295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/light23.jpg?resize=435%2C580&ssl=1\")
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