beauty.  belonging.  beloved.

Welcome, friend.

We’re delighted you are here. Our longing at Awakening Hope is to invite individuals and families navigating disability to discover beauty, to experience belonging, and to feel beloved. At times heartache—in some form or another—disrupts our desires and may leave us questioning and feeling hurt, forgotten, hopeless. In 2016, our son was unexpectedly diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy—a degenerative, life-altering, muscle-wasting disease. Tears flowed. Ache tightened our chest. Grief and questions poured from our souls. Over time this journey of lament began to awaken hope. It has stirred a passion in our hearts to walk alongside others and together discover the beauty hidden in heartache. more >>


The cup of life is the cup of joy as much as it is the cup of sorrow. It is the cup in which sorrow and joys, sadness and gladness, mourning and dancing are never separated. If joys could not be where sorrows are, the cup of life would never be drinkable. That is why we must hold the cup in our hands and look carefully to see the joys hidden in our sorrows.

~ Henri Nouwen


reflections

Language of Lament—Part 1

We both walked in the room—hearts heavy with unspoken words, problems with no answers. We tried to lighten the load by revisiting past hurts and talking about solutions. The weight

Whispers In Your Ear

I sat on the edge of her bed. Tears spoke what words could not. She was hurt, sad, alone. In her silent, tearful lament she longed for God, but her

Refining Worship

“You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will

 


MANIFESTO

—  WE BELIEVE  —

in PILGRIMAGE, that journeying with a hurting heart heals.

that LAMENT unlocks the door of hope, inviting us toward worship.

that BELONGING can cultivate the belief that we are beloved.

that BEAUTY is often discovered in the wonder of joy mixed with sorrow.

in PRAYER, that honest conversation with God aligns the human heart with His tender care.

in God’s slow, gentle work of REDEFINING and reframing.

that HEALING often begins by holding story, holding spaces, and holding tensions.