Blog

New Year’s Reflections

Jan 6, 2022

I hope that as 2022 has begun, you have experienced the nearness and faithfulness of our great God. Personally, the start of this year is mixed with excitement and uncertainty. Excitement over what God is doing at Hope, excitement that we have a new Associate Director who has joined our team, excitement that God’s kingdom will continue to go forward and expand, even though the last few years have been excruciatingly challenging.

Yet I enter the new year with uncertainty, especially with regards to the pandemic. At this time last year, I thought we were entering the final throes of COVID-19. Yet this past year felt just as challenging as the one before. These last two years have felt like the song that never ends. Every time it seems like we are getting back to “normal” (if that exists anymore!), another variant roars its head. My family has also been dealing with some health challenges in our extended family, which have required additional energies and focus.

But I am comforted by daily mercies, freely given, that really do help in all our moments of need. I’m certain each of you have your own particular hardships and sorrows, even in the midst of God’s gracious provisions and blessings. It is a comfort to know that his mercies really are new every morning, he is faithful, and his love is steadfast. And therefore, we have hope (Lam. 3:21-23). I do not presume to know all you are facing or have faced. But I do know he is faithful, and he will sustain us to the end as he supplies all that we need for this moment (1 Cor. 1:4-9).

There is a lot we are thankful for at Hope as we begin a new year. Our team grew in 2021. We held more counseling hours than any single year before. We hired a new Associate Director. We added to our Board of Directors. Yet each of us at Hope also brings our own hardships and sorrows into 2022 (whether pandemic related or not). The same Hope we offer in each counseling session is the same Hope we each must cling to in our own lives and families.

We are excited about what is in store, and desire faithfulness and effectiveness in all we do. And we each want to cling to Christ and experience his tailored mercies in our particular moments of need.

I am looking forward to seeing how God uses our ministry to bring the Hope of Christ to some of the hardest and darkest places in life.

Blessings to you as we enter this new year together.