WOW! It's been a year since we've launched Hints for Prayerful... Pause!

Thank you for your support!

Hints started as a small, mustard seed-sized idea when I was going through a tough, turn-your-life-upside-down season. I found myself suddenly divorced with sole custody of my then 3-year old daughter.  It was messy. I was a mess. It had shaken me so completely that my insides felt like they were on the outside. There was literally no humanly way that I could be consoled.

But God carefully scooped me up and caringly started putting me back together, but this time He arranged my parts so I would be both softer and stronger than I ever was before.

During that dark time, I relied on God for everything, because I didn't know how I was going to do it. There were long days that consisted of only a pathetic prayer on repeat, "Help me through this moment! And this moment!  And this one! Help me! Help me!..." and He did.

I wore a cross bracelet that I noticed would gently tap me on my wrist when I was mid-sob, and it would catch my attention enough to pull me out of that self-pity sob and remind me to pause, to pray, to trust, and to let God!   

That season I mourned, and the grief was deep.  I didn't know how I was ever going to climb out of that hole, but when the time was right (and it was quicker than I had imagined it would be), light started seeping through, and I found myself much closer to the surface than I thought I was.

I knew I wanted to stay close to Him, but didn't know how I would be able to—given the stressful work schedule that had been my life up until then. Plus, I knew I wanted to be more present and available to my daughter who was suffering as well. So I prayed, and prayed.

A picture began to form.  It centered on that simple cross bracelet that gave me closeness to God in my darkest hours.  Could not others benefit from a tangible reminder to pause… pray... realign during tough times? Could this become a community of those who support and pray for each other?

This picture was giving me hope, a new direction and an encouraging sign that I could provide for my daughter and me.  I could imagine a community of like-minded individuals developing where we would not feel alone in our struggles, and that we as a community would be available to pray for each other in the life’s storms and celebrate blessings with each other, as well.

Then God laid it on my heart that sharing my profits with organizations and charities that were doing good in the world on His behalf would amplify what I ever could contribute individually.  This framed my picture completely - God’s provision for me, his blessing for you, and our outreach for others.

This first year I heard from so many of you about your beautiful hints for prayerful... pause stories - how you've integrated a bracelet or other item into your daily life, how its given you hope and helped you grow closer to God, or how you gifted it to someone in need and how much it touched and blessed them.  It affirmed for me that indeed all it takes is a mustard-seed of faith and willingness to be led.

This first year we were able to donate 10% of profits to many different international, national, regional and local organizations that include:

Plus we were able to donate in other ways to other great programs including:

It feels great to be an instrument that God can work through. I encourage you to explore these organizations and see the work God is doing through them, as well. 

It’s been a busy first year, but my still small voice continues to speak to me the words “Community” and “Relationship” and more recently the phrase “Don’t Hold Back”.  So with this upcoming year, I am hoping to also be able to more fully develop those community aspects of Hints that I originally envisioned.

Going into this, I knew very little about Facebook, and naively thought every post Hints made would show up in all the followers’ feeds, but I soon learned that was not the case... (Facebook only really shows posts organically to 5-10% of page followers, and based on the intial interaction with the post (likes and/or comments with the post) they decide whether or not to continue putting it in others’ feeds. More often than not they recommend you pay to “boost your post” to get it to a wider audience.) ...so it’s been a bit of a learning curve for me to figure out how best to create this community. 

To be honest, I have not yet fully figured out how to do it.  I plan to post more often, and hope you will like and/or comment to help spread the posts and sense of community, and I’ve created an Instagram presence (@hintsforprayerfulpause), as well, which will be a resource for Devotionals+Inspiration.

You are invited to be part of the #prayerfulpause community—a shared journey to joy, hope & peace via a rhythm of prayer.

For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am with them.

Matthew 18:20

God Bless~

Hannah 

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