Looking back - and ahead

(One of my first card drawings)

Fourteen years ago I published my first blog post for Intermissions for Hope. My desire was to encourage people to reach out in love, support, and encouragement to one another. I designed notecards and made up lists of suggested messages. Back then a postage stamp cost 42 cents. (And we probably thought that was too much!)

It all started as a child… oh, how I loved to sit at the table with coloring books and crayons! I certainly didn’t dream of becoming an artist back then. It would have been inconceivable to even suggest that I would someday print drawings and actually sell them.

But God had His own plans. 

My mom was the first one to promote this idea several years ago. She invited her friends over to her house for a card party (like Tupperware). We played games and I talked about my artwork and I sold some cards. This concept ebbed and flowed until October 9, 2012 when the Intermissions for Hope website was created and I began posting encouraging words about the value of the hand-written note. Again, I never really thought it would take off. But if you do nothing, you get nothing in return.

And once again, in the past year, not only did I publish a devotional book but I illustrated it as well. As a child I would have laughed at such an impossible notion. And 14 years ago, you would have had a hard time convincing me not only that it would be possible, but that I would actually sell them. Hundreds of them. 

But God had His own plans.

I couldn’t foresee all that God had in mind for me. I was just a kid who loved coloring. Who grew up to be a person who wanted to lighten another’s load with a cheerful drawing. And then wanted others to join me.

And I can’t foresee now what God has in store for me or for Intermissions for Hope. I continue to write though the focus has shifted. Now I just want you all to know of God’s faithfulness and love for you. How that gets shared in the coming year… well, as you can see, God always seems to have His own plans. And it’s always bigger than what one can imagine.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah‬ ‭29‬:‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,” Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Maybe you have been fruitful in the past and think your fruitfulness may be over. Maybe you’re like me and are older. Too old for anything new with purpose and impact. But God wasn’t finished with me when I first started selling my little cards. No, He had another layer of fruitfulness for me. Even at this age! Things bigger and better than I could ever imagine coming from me. 

You will find passages in the Bible about vineyards and the grapes (fruit) that are produced. But the grapes are not the end of the story. The grapes are then turned into wine (another layer of fruitfulness). And the wine brings about gladness (Psalm 104:15)

I encourage you now, to believe bigger than you can even imagine, and to trust in the words of God Himself… He has plans for you. Be excited. Smile inside and out at what great big goodness God is thinking about, planning, organizing, timing out perfectly. Whether you see it or not…

God still has His own plans and purpose for you!