For the past four weeks, we’ve been journeying through the Prayer of St. Francis, one line at a time.

This week, we arrive at:

“Where there is despair, let me sow hope.”

I’ve been thinking about what hope really looks like and I don’t think hope is pretending that everything is okay.

Hope is knowing that everything doesn’t have to stay the way it is.

One of the things I love about mentorship and community is the realization that we are rarely as alone as we think we are.

As women, we can sometimes convince ourselves that:

“Nobody understands what I’m going through.”

“I’m the only one struggling with this.”

“Everyone else seems to have it together.”

But sometimes all it takes is one woman saying:

“Me too.”

And suddenly, the weight feels a little lighter.

Not because the problem has disappeared, but because we no longer feel alone in carrying it.

I’ve experienced this myself.

When people look at my life today, they may see the business.

The book.

The retreats.

The coaching.

The travel.

The community.

But they don’t necessarily see all the chapters that came before.

They don’t see the young mother who sometimes had to bring her daughter to the office because she didn’t have anyone else to help.

They don’t see the seasons of rearranging childcare because getting to daycare on time was a struggle.

They don’t see every heartbreak…. Every difficult decision…. Every season when I wondered how, and if things would work out.

And I don’t share these things to say, “Look how hard my life was.”

I share them because someone else might be living in that chapter right now.

And they need to know:

This is a chapter.

It is not necessarily the whole story.

That’s what testimony does.

It doesn’t say:

“Look at me. I’ve figured everything out.”

It says:

“I’ve been somewhere that looked impossible from the inside… and I made it through.”

And sometimes that is exactly the hope someone needs.

Scripture Tells Us

In Romans 15:13:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

I love that Scripture doesn’t say the God who gives us easy lives.

It says:

the God of hope.

Because hope is needed precisely because life isn’t always easy.

There is a season for everything.

A season of becoming a mother.

A season of figuring things out.

A season of heartbreak.

A season of rebuilding.

A season of starting again.

And eventually, another season comes.

Not necessarily because everything magically gets better…

But because we grow, circumstances change, God opens doors, and we keep moving.

Reflection

What season are you in right now?

Are you mistaking a difficult chapter for the whole story?

Who has given you hope simply by sharing their own story?

And whose life might be encouraged if you were brave enough to say:

“I’ve been there too.”

Today, my prayer is simple:

Lord, where there is despair, let me sow hope.

Give me the courage to share my story when it might remind someone that they are not alone.

Help me remember the difficult seasons I’ve already survived.

And when I encounter someone who is struggling, let my words remind them:

This may be hard.

But this does not have to be the end.

Amen.

Until next Saturday!

Love, Talisha ❤️