Hope for the future

For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

On this birthday, the first day of a new year in my life, I am awestruck by all the ways God has carried out this promise over the course of my life. That knowledge gives me hope for the future, whatever it holds. The past two years have been a bumpy ride, and I’m grateful for the friends and family who have sustained me as I have grieved losses. I’m especially grateful for the listening and kindness of my pastor, who will soon be moving on as our church calls a new permanent pastor—a new adventure and new possibility for relationship.

 Now in the autumn of my life, always my favorite season as a young child, I am assessing what opportunities the future might hold for serving God in different ways. My most recent project was to put together my first book of poems written out of my experiences on my first medical mission trip and my first trip to Nicaragua. The trip blessed my life in so many ways, many intangible, which I could only begin to express through poetry. God has had a hand in this project. I have offered the book in exchange for a donation to next year’s mission trip back to Nicaragua and have been amazed by the response of those who have read the poems and graciously donated. Who but God knew there was a poet hiding inside all this time. God is good. All the time.

Grace and Peace,

Donna Sue

Remembering

A year ago this week, our interim pastor died unexpectedly following surgery. How strange to realize that a whole year has passed. I miss her bright smile, green eyes, copper hair, and wicked sense of humor. Our church has moved on without her, reluctantly, but of necessity. Now we will face yet more change when her replacement leaves sometime before the end of the year and another permanent pastor arrives. I confess I do not understand much that has happened this past two years since our last permanent pastor left. But one thing I know without a shadow of doubt: God has been with us throughout this time of sadness and change. For that reason, I am confident that God will be with us as we move into the future, whatever that might hold. I read a quote recently that hit home: "You either trust God or you don't." I referenced that wisdom when I preached yesterday on the passage from John's Gospel in which Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life." That bread is sufficient to feed our souls through whatever changes come. I am grateful for the sure and certain knowledge of God's grace in this time of remembered sadness.

Grace and Peace,
Donna Sue