At an End.

     I can hardly believe it, 2018 is coming to an end. As I look back on this year I can't help but to thank GOD for the MANY ways HE has been faithful to me. So much has happened over this past year, and my heart is filled with gratitude knowing HE took every step with me. I donated my long blonde hair, moved into my own apartment, helped plant a church, moved up at work, and have rejoiced in the restoration of a healthier relationship with my parents. This year is definitely one for the books. In January I couldn't have even begun to imagine the ways that GOD would grow me over this past year. There were tears, laughter, fights, apologies, losses, victories and GOD was faithfully a part of each of them. I can't help but to smile as my heart fills with peace and a bittersweet goodbye over these last few hours. It's been good. It's been hard. Oh, that I have grown. Oh, that I have grown! Just like the rest of the world that sets there New Years resolution(s) -I have my own. We all have a desire for something more, something better, a fresh start- It's engraved in us. We all long for it. We seek it. We strive for it. We suffer because of it. We rejoice. We weep. We hope. Thanks be to GOD that if we are HIS, we are a NEW creation, and HIS mercies are new EVERY morning- not just on January 1st. Therefore we march forward, running the race set before us, standing against the flaming arrows of the evil one. We take action, resting in the promise that GOD is mighty to save. Unearned, undeserved, freely given sweet grace offered to those who put there trust in HIM. It doesn't get any better than this. Sure, I have my resolutions just like everybody else- but they cannot compare to THIS. There is only ONE thing I desire more, to want to want more- CHRIST JESUS HIMSELF. In the end my hopeful expectation is that on December 31, 2019 I will look more like CHRIST than I did on December 31, 2018.
     My final advice to you brothers and sisters- stand steadfast resting in HIS steadfast love, remembering HIS mercies are new EVERY morning!
                                                      Much love, Frances Hope

The Honest Truth

     I'm just going to be real with you- I don't have it all figured out. Shocker! Right? I hope not. SO often of the time I am so tempted to only let my wisdom show, and to "put my best face forward". I wouldn't dare tell you that the other day I sat on the floor  in my closet alone and confessed to CHRIST all the things I hate about myself. I wouldn't dare tell you that there is a constant battle going off in my mind about my worth and my unworthiness. Why on earth would I dare tell you that and risk the chance that maybe you like me even a little bit? Maybe. Why would I compromise any opportunity of being perfectly awesome? Why? Here's why, and it may come as a surprise to you (all sarcasm intended), I'm not. There was only ONE perfectly awesome man to walk this earth. HIS name is JESUS. There was once a time early in my walk with CHRIST that I eagerly looked forward to the day I would have it all figured out- flash forward 9 years and...nope still haven't got there. YET I've realized one very profound thing- I'm not meant to. All those day dreams about growing in wisdom and figuring it all out have been put into reverse. The more that I grow, the more I realize how much I don't have it all together and I really don't have a clue what I'm doing. Not a single thing. Throw back to your old Sunday school bible verse "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding...", and oh wait! I'm not meant to understand everything about everything?! More so not lean on what I do understand? Uh, yeah. Why? If I understood everything about everything I wouldn't trust in the ONE who is omniscient. Suddenly, I understand what truly matters. Guess what?! I don't get it. I do not understand. I'm foolish, and I don't have it all figured out. Does my point seem redundant by now? Good. Just trying to dig the nail into the ground (or whatever the saying is- I don't know, I haven't figured it out yet).
     By now your either wandering one of two things: 1.) What on earth was she doing in her closet?! or 2.) your still trying to wrap your head around my last paragraph. Let me know when you've figured it out, because that would make one of us. Either way, I'm moving forward. Something did come from my time alone in my closet- GOD faithfully put Psalm 139:14 on the forefront of my mind. "I praise YOU, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are YOUR works; my soul knows it very well." I love that the NASB version says "I will give thanks to YOU". I've read this verse about a kazillion times in my life, I've prayed it over little ones, spoken "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" over and over again- and have overlooked the part that says "I will give thanks". Honestly, I don't always believe that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. If were all honest we've all been there. So I paused in that heart broken moment of my life and turned all that self-hatred into a prayer of thanks. "Thank you GOD for my oily, acne prone complexion. Thank you for my old soul self that struggles to relate with my current generation. Thank you for how tall YOU have made me. Thank YOU for your knowledge of all my fears, insecurities, and areas of doubt. Thank YOU that YOU love me past my wicked, ugly, sin-tainted heart. Thank YOU for making me just as YOU have, including the parts of me I don't necessarily like about myself. ABBA, I ask that you help my unbelief and help me see me as YOU see me. To know in my soul that I am a wonderful creation. An image bearer. A part of YOUR crowning creation."  That prayer took a lot out of me. To humble myself so low in confession and gratitude. It's hard to be real, to be honest, and transparent with yourself, others and with GOD. It strips us of our pride. It is good to give thanks to a holy GOD who is our CREATOR over our design- because the focus can no longer be on us- it MUST be on HIM who is worthy.
     So here is my challenge for you today  in whatever stage of life you are in give thanks to GOD surrendering your design in gratitude to HIM who created, and fashioned you in intricate detail. If you have children teach them these same things. Whenever you start to feel the temptation pull towards self-hatred give thanks to GOD who created you- not in a place of pride, but of great humility and surrender. Have grace for yourself and know that you are not alone in this. If you never meet another soul in your life who is real, and honest about their imperfections- know that I, Frances Hope Allen, can only preach what I must daily practice. More than anything we must call to mind that we have a GREAT, HIGH PRIEST in JESUS CHRIST who SYMPATHIZES with our weaknesses and without sin. We don't have to be perfect or have it all figured out- we must simply trust HIM who does and give thanks to the way HE has created us.
                                                            Much Love, Frances Hope

Faith over Feelings

     I've been there before. There's not a single tree in sight across miles of dry desert land. If your lucky it rains once or twice a year. The air and earth so dry the wind blows the dehydrated sands across the desert in upward spirals before it vanishes back onto the ground in which it once laid. The sun shining forth with such intensity that any measure of water in the earth quickly evaporates just as soon as it hits the ground. I assure you the desert lands are very dry. Unfortunately, there are times in which the Christian soldier also enters spiritual seasons as dry as the desert sands. You know the need for sustaining water, but finding the strength to run to it requires energy you don't even have. How then can you come to it? The answer is in the gospel- dear one, you can't. It is the LORD who reaches down and provides the living water from which you must drink. It is the LORD who provides comfort when you can find no rest. So then you say, "But what if you cannot feel HE is doing so?" or perhaps "But yet I am still in the midst of this dry season!". Dear soldier march forward encouraged by such thought. If you are aware of your dry season lift your hands upward in praise for the acknowledgement of this truth. To know that you are in the midst of a drought is to know there is a need for living water- for that of CHRIST. To know the drought is to know the water- this is grace in and of itself. Yet again you cry out "I do not feel the nearness of GOD!", remember deeply within your heart- relationship with CHRIST is not based on feelings it is solely dependent on faith. "GOD is near" is not a feeling, its a biblical truth- one you may not always feel yet must fight to continuously believe. Charismatic expectation can be a deadly poison in the midst of a dry season- it can cause one to fall into so deep a doubt that one would stray further away from saving grace. It's there. Grace is indeed faithfully there. By contrast in the way the sun beats down onto dry earth giving forth hallucinations of water- CHRIST is truly and surely there. Dear one, cling to the truth which is able sustain personal relationship with a HOLY GOD: faith can surely triumph over feelings. March forward in the dry desert land to which you currently endure for hope has not escaped you -it is with you.

Much Love, 

Frances Hope

Know your Money, Honey! [From Iron Wife]

     The first time I sat down with my pastor and talked budget we exchanged high fives with grins on our faces, because I was doing awesome! ....Just kidding that is a BIG FAT lie. I bawled like a baby. Like snotty, red faced cried. There were NO pretty tears.  I felt defeated. I cried, and cried, and CRIED! I felt hopeless, and then I cried some more. I'm pretty sure you get the point now. It was not pretty. I left feeling like I wanted to go home and lie in the fetal position and cry till I passed out...but there was a small sliver in me that said "don't give up"... so I wiped the tears from my eyes, caught my breath and poured my devastated heart out to GOD. Quite a few months have passed since then and I met with him again... this time with no tears and a grin on my face... for real. Not because I magically became a millionaire and all my financial dreams came true (I wish!), but because I am headed in the right direction. I am to date still learning to budget, but I am better off than I was before. I have learned that it is not hopeless, but it does take discipline (and grace for myself). There are times I wish I could snap my fingers and have thousands saved up in my savings account- but that isn't reality. Saving and budgeting takes time, effort, and discipline. It doesn't happen overnight. YET praise GOD I am 24 and DEBT FREE! That is a HUGE blessing! This doesn't mean I can run around and flamboyantly spend my hard earned money however I please- it actually compels me to want to be wise with what I do have. I want to be able to support myself one day as a single woman- which brings me to the point of this blog: Being a budget babe, and a savings sister! HA!
     Remember how I mentioned I bawled like a baby? Well part of that had to do with the truth that I didn't want to sit around and be dependent on some guy with money in his pockets to come sweep me off my feet.  I understand that GOD could call me to singleness for the rest of my life. That is a very real possibility. Therefore I wanted to get in control of my finances in hopes that one day I can support myself comfortably as a single woman. Odds are I probably won't marry an established brain surgeon who REALLY loves JESUS, is great at budgeting, .....and doesn't happen to be in his 90's. So, the most logical and rational thing for me to do is to get in control of my own finances and life (with GOD's grace and guidance) in the expectation that GOD may call me to singleness for the rest of my life. Also if you meet a guy with money in his pockets...you might want to tell him there are safer places to put it. Just a thought.
     There are still times where I let out a deep sigh when I look at my budget and wish I had it ALL figured out already. There are those moments when I see a Dave Ramsey post on Pinterest or I'm reading his book where I wish I magically had the all the financial discipline I need- but discipline takes practice over time. Its the continuous transformation of walking away from the choices you used to make. Financial discipline is not losing heart when you make a mistake, but learning from it. It's the act of consistently taking "X" about of your paycheck and putting it into savings. I've said it once and I'll say it again financial discipline takes time, effort, discipline and grace. The struggle can be very real, but progress and preparation for the unexpected is rewarding and necessary. Let me just be the first to admit (least I be a hypocrite) that I DO NOT have it all figured out- but I am continuing to learn so that though I am debt free I can get ahead of the game. I don't want to stop saving....EVER! Not because I want to greedily hoard and hide away all my money, but because if I ever enter a storm I want to be prepared.
     Obedience is something I never want to forsake- tithing is not a choice its a command. I'm not talking a damnation if you don't because your evil (which every sin tainted heart indeed is) kind of command, but a call to obedience to GOD- the provider of all things. JESUS said it HIMSELF "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to GOD what is GOD's", and if JESUS said it- it has to be legit. The first thing I do whenever I get my paycheck is do the math to find 10% (that's all GOD asks for) and put it into my tithes. The second thing I do is take my "X" amount and put it into savings. I have personally heard a lot of people say "GOD doesn't need your money" and they use financial struggle as an excuses to justify that- this is W-R-O-N-G. Wrong. Not in the sense that GOD doesn't need our money- that much is true- but its a matter of obedience and gratitude for what GOD has done- even in a worldly sense like you have a J-O-B with a P-A-Y-C-H-E-C-K so there is no E-X-C-U-S-E for you. I'm not trying to be harsh- just realistic. Even on months where I don't make as much I tithe, not out of self righteous obligation, but (to be repetitive) out of obedience and gratitude for ALL that GOD has done for me. I give out of joy, not out of obligation.
     My pastor put it this way "Your income should first go to obedience (GOD), then expenses, then planning, and then to generosity". Trust me when I found out generosity was last on my list I was shocked. You also might have guessed that when I heard this I heard it through tears- because all I want to do is give. The goal is not to be selfish with finances, but to be prepared. If you can't take care of yourself then you can't take care of others around you. You are not GOD. I know this all may seem like heavy news to hear, but trust me getting in control of your finances is a blessing. So girlfriend download a budget app (like "Mint" or "YNAB"(if you really want to be disciplined)) and build financial discipline and be a single girl who saves!

Here are a few practical tips for saving money that I have learned (and wished I learned them sooner):

Save it before you spend it 

As soon as you get your paycheck put "X" amount into your savings account. This helps build discipline, because the more you save the less you having in your checking to spend. That shirt you want today wont matter in 5 years. 

Don't pay for pink or spend on sparkles 

This is one of the worst scams I have ever seen, and I wish I would have saw it sooner. One of the greatest areas I see this is with razors- it's a plastic handle with a metal blade that cuts of unwanted hair- it needs to work but it doesn't have to be pink.  It's a great marketing strategy, but it doesn't mean the product is better...just because its girly and your a girl. 

BOGO is not better

Chances are you don't need that second thing even if it is discounted. Call it one and done. 

Don't be captivated by clearance

"It's cheaper, therefore I have to have it!" That is a point- blank- lie, and your better off walking away. 

Buy in Bulk

Don't be fooled by sales prices. Look at unit prices and choose wisely from there. 

There is no shame in straying from name brand

When it comes to getting the little day to day needs there is no shame in buying store brands in opposition to the name brand. In most cases the ingredients are the exact same. 

Dare to DIY

You can actually save money by learning to do things yourself- and it's more fun!  

Much love, Frances Hope

Children's book: The Lonely Stuckling

“The Lonely Stuckling”

By Frances H. Allen

            There once was a lost and lonely little duck that would swim in the stillness of the swampy waters. Each day he would wonder what tomorrow might bring for he grew weary of his days. Adversity was often his only friend for the other little ducklings would mock him and call him “Stuckling”. You see Stuckling tried hard to get ahead, but whenever he felt he had accomplished something he would soon find himself back at the beginning. Stuck in the very same place with the very same struggles he had always had. One would think such struggle would cause a little duckling to become bitter, but for Stuckling it was the opposite. The more little Stuckling would endure the more loving and compassionate he would become. He wouldn’t blame the other little ducklings no matter how it hard it would become. The more they mocked him the sorrier he felt for them. He knew that not everyone could understand the struggle he went through the way his hero could. Stuckling often thought about his hero and he desired to be so much like him. His hero was a crane named Chadwick who was strong, tall, and mighty. Many would call him Chadwick the Great for he had done mightier things than anyone could ever imagine.

         One day when Stuckling was swimming alone through the swampy waters taking in the sunshine he realized something didn’t seem right. He looked behind him and noticed an over cast coming towards him. He looked up and saw that there was a heavy storm rolling his way. Stuckling panicked and started to swim faster than he had ever swum before. He stroked and stroked harder and harder than his little wings were ever used to. Before he knew it he had been swept up by the rushing current behind him. The longer he struggled to keep his head above water the lonelier he felt. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t fight the storm or the rising rapids that had swept him up. The next thing he knew he was moments away from coming in contact with a large boulder that lied ahead. Before he could blink he had struck the enormous rock and fell unconscious. The storm carried the unconscious Stuckling a few more feet before it had subsided.

            The next morning stuckling woke with the heaviest feeling in his head as it throbbed from where he had run into the boulder. It took him a little while before he was aware of what had happened. Stuckling looked around him at the unfamiliarity of his new surroundings. He grew worried as he realized he was in a place he had never been before. Suddenly Stuckling heard a sound approaching and he paused stiff with concern. It wasn’t long before he could comprehend what the sound was- slow, heavy footsteps. “Alligator!” He panicked and ran as fast as his little feet could carry him. He could feel the rushing of the alligators breath as he chased and chomped after little Stuckling. Stuckling ran and ran! Faster and faster! The more he ran the more frightened he felt. Stuckling finally found just enough strength to cry out for help as he ran. Thump! Stuckling ran into something. He speedily picked himself back up startled by the impact. It was oddly soft for being something so sturdy.

            He looked up and in amazement saw that it was Chadwick the Great that stood before him. Stuckling swallowed hard before gaping his mouth open wide. Chadwick chuckled at the wide eyed little duckling. It wasn’t long before that no good alligator had caught up with them. His nostrils flared and his eyes full of rage. Stuckling was frightened and hid behind Chadwick. The next thing he knew Chadwick the Great had spread his mighty and majestic wings wide and stood tall. The alligator stopped dead in his tracks and the rage in his eyes turned into fear faster than Stuckling had ever seen anything change before. The alligator hauled out of there quicker than Stuckling could regain his breath.

            Stuckling stared into the empty space of where the alligator had stood moments before. Then he remembered who stood before him. He looked back up at Chadwick the Great and stuttered trying to get his words out. “You-you-you-you’re Cha-Chadwick the Great!” All Chadwick did was chuckle and smile at the amazed little duckling. Then with a mighty and steady voice he said “And you dear little one are who they call Stuckling”. Stuckling now stood in even more amazement that Chadwick the Great knew who he was. “You know who I am?” Stuckling said in his small and timid voice. Chadwick told little Stuckling that he had always known, and how he had always cared for him. Stuckling stood confused. He had never met Chadwick in real life before. All he had were the stories he had heard. Stuckling could only respond with a brief “Finally” as tears filled his weary eyes. Chadwick saw the heaviness of Stuckling’s lonely little heart. He scooped up the tiny and frail little duckling and said “Dear one, I have always been with you.”

            Stuckling sat shocked in the mighty wings of Chadwick and said “You have?” Chadwick reassured him so. You see Stuckling never realized that every stroke or step he had taken was well known by Chadwick for Chadwick had taken them first. Chadwick had always been watching little Stuckling and knew the heaviness of his little heart. Stuckling sat under the love and warmth of Chadwick’s wings for hours and Chadwick spoke kind things to Stuckling. Things little Stuckling had never heard before. The more he listened to the kind words of Chadwick the more the heaviness in his heart would lighten up. Stuckling deeply wished to stay with Chadwick forever, however Chadwick finally stood again. He cleared his mighty throat and told Stuckling that he must return back to the home of his swampy waters. Stuckling grew saddened at this. Chadwick told him he must do so that he might tell the other ducklings about him.

            Before Chadwick spread his mighty wings to take flight he reminded Stuckling to remember the kind things he had spoken to him. He told Stuckling to share these things with the other little ducklings back home. Stuckling started to weep and panic, but Chadwick paused and reminded Stuckling that he would always be with him. Chadwick took a strong leap and spread his wings in flight. He glimpsed back at Stuckling once more, smiled and said “remember me and the kind things I have told you”. Stuckling pulled himself together, took a deep sigh, and started to head back home. Stuckling’s heart was far fuller of joy than ever before, and he was eager to tell others all the wonderful things of Chadwick the Great. From that day on Stuckling was never the same and he dreamt of the day he might see Chadwick the Great once again.  

The End