Today get ready to meet the beautiful Danae. I get to see Danae almost everyday as we work together at the church and it is honestly such a blessing. She's incredibly fun, has the best "snort laugh" and has a heart of pure gold. Her she be…!

Hi! My name is Danae and I had the privilege of taking part in the one word brunch that the lovely Laura hosted this February.

2013 was the year of new experiences for me. I, as a 25 year old woman, entered into my first relationship. Let me be clear, saying that I “entered” it is putting it really lightly. What I actually mean is that I jumped blindly, wildly and without any inhibitions headfirst into it. I went in with the mentality of “I am 25, I know what I’m doing… seriously! God! I’ve soo got this”. I left God on the edge of that relationship and I ended up experiencing a lot of pain and hardship as a result of that decision.

I learned so much about myself throughout that time and most of it has been pretty hard to accept and face. As a result of abandonment as a child, I have the mentality that I don’t deserve the best that God has to offer me and that I should be willing to settle for sub par because that’s all that I am ever going to get. I felt the need to quell all that I am as a person in order to fit into whatever mould my significant other wanted me to fit into. I lost who I was during that time and it has been quite the journey over the past few months trying to regain my identity.

I spent some time early on in January praying over what God wanted to say to me about this next year and one verse kept on coming back to me.

“But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation: It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness. The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.” Lamentation 3:21-21

Hope was my word of year! I decided to look into the original Greek and Hebrew words from which hope derives from in the bible. Tiqvah(Hebrew) literally means a cord or attachment. Tiqvah comes from the root word qavah, which is also commonly translated as hope. This word originally carried the sense of something strengthened by being bound together, such as a rope. This rope or cord endures when tested and stretched. The concept of hope as symbolically represented by these words is the trust placed in an unbreakable promise. Another common Hebrew word translated as hope is yachal. Yachal means to wait expectantly. It is to patiently endure because of the assurance of what is coming. In contrast to the plethora of Hebrew words, there are only two Greek words for hope in the New Testament. Elpis is an expectation or confidence, and its verb form, elpizo, is the act of expecting or trusting.

So this year I am putting my trust in the unbreakable promise that is Jesus Christ, I will wait expectantly for all the amazing things God has in store for me and I have immeasurable hope in the beautiful work that God is doing within me and will continue to do within me!

2014, bring it on!

all photos by Amy Gary

Such gold right there. Thank you so much for sharing Danae!

If you haven't yet, be sure to check out the other girls' one words- Amy // Nadia // Sarah // Tiffany // Me and here is the original post from our one word brunch!

I'm still taking submissions for one words! So if you would like to share on here about your one word for 2014 email laura@ssheart.com

xo,

s.s.♥.