HOPE STEP 1: H – Hook-up to your Creator.

• “Hooking-Up” to your Maker reminds you that, regardless of the pain or impossibility of your situation, the solution fits into a larger plan, and with someone who has infinite resources.
• It surrenders you to unconditional love that is greater than you, your surroundings, or even your greatest imagination. 
• It helps you remember that you do not have to understand everything, or even be in control to move forward with the best possible steps for your life. 
• It connects you to your purpose and destiny again.
• Why do you Have to hool-up with the Creator to have hope?
  
  • Genuine hope has to be based on truth or it is presumption, that is "false hope". 
  • Hope is not a "solo" sport or task.  Hope alone is not possible, and not hope.  It must be connected to others to produce meaning, purpose, fulfillment, and calling.  None can do this better than the Creator.
  • Since we are fashioned in the Creator's image, genuine hope must connect us to our Creator if we are to understand Him, others, and ourselves.
  • Having a relationship to the Creator links us to some important life needs:  our soul, our design, our purpose and calling, our sense of time value from birth to death and beyond, the importance of our sovereignty and choices, and our external (eternal) resources.
    

   Applying HOOK-UP 24-7 Exercise

Step ❶ Identify the elements of "Hooking-up to your Creator".   All meaningful relationships are "two way", and have an understanding and respect for the roles and status of each person.  It is no different when we hook-up to our loving Creator.  Since we 1) know he is the true rule-maker, we are challenged to accept that we are not god, and since we 2) need his rules for our lives to be transformed, our success depends on several choices only each individual can make.  Make a simple chart like the one below.  In your step 1 column, check the Hook-up Choices (1 - 3) that you have  made in each row.  If you cannot check each row, take some time to consider why and determine the importance to be make each choice.

Hook-up Choice 1: I have chosen to acknowledge the Creator as the true rule-maker for my life. 

Hook-up Choice 2:  I have surrendered my sovereignty (control and will) to the Creator's truths. 

Hook-up Choice 3:  I choose faith even when I cannot understand it, and will keep hooking up.

Step ❷ Rate your choices:  Use column two.  Using a scale of 10 being "strongly committed" and 1 being "still considering", rate the strength of your Hook-up Choices.  Put your rating in each Hook-up Choice row.  Update it to a 10 as soon as possible.  If you are not at a 10, take some time to determine why.

Step ❸ Plan your future success: Use column three.  Write a simple plan, journal, or a minimum visualize what this each choice will impact your behavior and ability to live "realizing hope" for your life.  Put the date your plan is completed in each Hook-up Choice row.

Step ❹ Share your analysis with others: Use column four.  Share your Hook-up Choices success with one or more people who are committed to living hope.  Check each row after you have shared.