Ladies of Hope

Greetings Ladies of Hope and Merry Christmas! We are so excited to bring back the Gift of 5’s Christmas Breakfast to Hope Church! Next Saturday, December 11 th at 9am we will be meeting in the Garage at Hope Church for a Christmas breakfast, devotional, and gift exchange. Sign-up ONLINE today! For all the details check out the event page or watch the personal invitation from Liz Keefer below: Have questions? Stop by our table this Sunday in the café and sign-up in person.   And for a taste of what to expect, check out the highlight video from 2019’s Gift of 5’s: We hope to see you there and encourage you to invite a friend!   Ladies of Hope Leadership

We enjoyed another wonderful Soup & Scripture event this month where ladies were able to laugh, connect, and grow closer to God together. Thank you to all the ladies who came out (and to those that brought food) - the spread of food was delicious as always!  For November, we kicked off the night with some Turkey trivia ( did you know that a turkey has approximately 3,500 feathers and can fly at 55mph! ). We also heard from Liz Keefer, who shared about her life experiences that shaped her love for food. She reminded us of the many times that the Bible talks about food and encouraged us this holiday season to embrace and celebrate the opportunities to share a meal with those around us. She did caveat this with a reminder to not disregard good health and moderation, but nonetheless to remember that a good meal is a gift from God and a wonderful tool to bring people together. She also shared a family recipe for " Plops " (included at the bottom), which her family makes every

Thank you to all the ladies who came out (and brought food) for our monthly Soup & Scripture event!  For October, we had a "Socktober" theme (complete with roses made from socks as the centerpieces) to collect socks for the Hope for the Homeless ministry. Socks are often one of the most needed items and we so appreciate the ladies who brought and were able to donate 84 pairs of new socks to those in need this fall! If you missed out, Hope Kidz is also partnering with Hope for the Homeless this month and has a collection basket for new socks located outside of the Clubhouse/Garage that you can drop off a donation of socks any Sunday in October.  Chuck & Patty Hasenstab attended and shared with us more information about their ministry - Hope for the Homeless. Chuck gave us some background as to how they got started, how they serve today, and ways for women at Hope Church to get involved. To learn more about the work they are doing for the homeless in downtown Cleveland,

 At our first Soup & Scripture event we shared a template for Sharing Your Hope Story .   We want to encourage women to intentionally seek ways to share what God is doing in their lives, and equip you with a helpful tool that can help you organize and communicate your story in a meaningful and impactful way. You can find a printer friendly copy of the document  here that we hope is helpful to you!  The first page of information explains the WHY. And the second page is a worksheet for the HOW.  We've included all of the same content below for you to review - and our prayer is that we can all be attuned to the fingerprints of God in our lives this year and have the confidence to share His goodness with those around us.  Sharing Your Hope Story There is power in sharing our personal experiences. When we stop to reflect on what God is doing in our life, and have the confidence to share it with others, we remind ourselves that God is at work in our world, community, and everyday li

We had a wonderful kick-off to our Soup & Scripture series! Thank you to everyone who came out and joined us!  Ally Brennan began our year long journey through the Sermon on the Mount by providing context for Jesus' famous teaching found in Matthew 5-7. She also gave an overview of the beatitudes, where Jesus taught the attitudes we should have in order to experience happiness. She reminded us, that the common translation to "blessed" really refers to an unshakable happiness, persistent in all circumstances.  We then spent some time studying the first Beatitude found in Matthew 5:3 -  Blessed are the poor in spirit,   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. After studying the meaning of "poor in spirit" and "kingdom of heaven" - Ally showed us how the first Beatitude (and Jesus' very first teaching in his public ministry) is a summary of the gospel message. Unless you humble yourself, and recognize that you have nothing to offer God, only then can

Philippians 4:8-9 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. I had someone tell me years ago that when my mind starts to swerve left of center and the yellow line on the road ahead starts to blend in with my surroundings – that I should begin at the top of this list and move along until I come to one that I can not apply to what I’m thinking. I don’t remember ever making it past the first item. I ask myself if what I’m thinking is true. Well. In the case of my anxious musings, they are never true. And just how much time and energy do I really want, or even have, to spend on a lie? If I also apply the fact that my anxiety is saying to God, “I don’t really think you ca