The Lord has graciously blessed Hope Through Hard Times with four and a half years of ministry so far. It’s been one of the best blessings in my life, and I pray has also been a blessing to you. As I mentioned a month or so ago, after launching the Warrior in Training Bible Study last September, I hit a season of hard spiritual warfare, which the Lord victoriously used to lead me into a season of recalibration. “Lord, what do You want me to do?” He helped reset my heart and for a while I considered laying this ministry down. “Is it time to give it up?” I asked as an unsettled feeling grew. In saying that, I didn’t believe I should as there is much the Lord had already told me He wants to do through it, but I needed my heart to surrender it to remind myself it was not to be an idol. It is a tool the Lord uses for His Kingdom purposes and it’s a privilege and honour I get to be a part of it, but it should never be my sole mission – Christ is! Near the end of that season of surrendering and questioning my next steps, a new one began. He was calling me into deeper prayer – to a season of strategizing.
My Commander was calling me to deepen my prayer life. This kept me quiet on the blog and social media for a time because I needed to remove added distractions to make more room for it in between also running the Warrior in Training Bible Study at my church and then preparing for a Christian women’s Speaking Bootcamp I’m excited to say I’m now participating in to help refine my message and skills to share with all of you!
As He called me to this time of deeper prayer, a friend of mine invited me to join a group of ladies to do the book Draw the Circle: 40 Day Prayer Challenge by Mark Batterson. (Gotta love God’s perfect timing!) The group of us began reading the book daily and bringing our praises and requests before the Father. This led me to doing the prayer challenge a second time with the retreat team (I will explain who this is further). The Lord did some amazing things in and through all of us during this time.
As a result, He revealed the answer to the unsettled spirit I had months ago. He was getting me uncomfortable with our ministry’s routine in order to prepare me to make. At first, I resisted because the world’s business standards say consistency is important. For someone with high responsibility, it was difficult to break from this cycle for me; I felt I needed to show up everyday with the same things I had been doing for years, but joy and peace were diminishing as I did. So, here we are; change is about to happen. The good news is, this ministry isn’t over! In fact, I feel in many ways it’s really just getting started!
Over the next couple weeks I’m going to explain the changes that will be taking place with this ministry and the story behind the pieces in order to help you understand the greater scope of Hope Through Hard Times, how every branch of this ministry links together, and how this affects you. Some of you may love where this is going, some may not; that happens with every change the Lord brings, and it’s okay. It is my prayer that this ministry will encourage, challenge, and strengthen each one of you to pursue passionate and disciplined lives for Christ in order to fulfill God’s mission, build strong accountability and discipleship, and grow madly in love with Jesus through the process.
Join me in the adventure God is writing for this ministry!
Below is a snapshot of the changes about to take place. Like I said, I’ll explain this in more detail in the next few weeks. If you have any questions in the meantime, please email us at in**@ho******************.org
Our Blog
- We will continue to plan our weekly faith posts
- The finance posts will be cancelled. If you need further guidance with your personal finances, email us at in**@ho******************.org and we’ll be happy to assist you
- Infertility posts – These will transition to another monthly opportunity
- Guest writers – Keep them coming!
- Prayers for various situations will begin!
Infertility
- We will begin monthly prayer nights for couples working through infertility. We have lots of resources/guidance built up on our blog, but the biggest need we know these couples need is to help lift their burdens to the Lord, so we’re looking forward to scheduling virtual prayer meetings for anyone going through infertility and any who have a willingness to pray for these couples.
Planted Warriors – New Projects in the works!
- We have a line of products coming to help remind you of the key principles taken from Warrior in Training. We have leather bracelets, tumblers, shirts, notebooks, a verse pack, and a 13-month agenda!
- Sammy (from our Inspire Hope Podcast) is finished the modifications to the Warrior in Training Bible Study workbook for men! He is planning to write the video lessons soon
- I’m currently writing the first book to a fictional series that shows the impact of God’s love and power in training us to be warriors for His Kingdom and glory! I am very excited about this!
Inspire Hope Podcast
- We had a few crazy busy months that postponed our show for a bit, but there’s a couple new episodes up this month, so if you’ve missed them, this summer is a great time to get caught up. We’re excited to continue recording episodes and hearing testimonies of God’s work in others. What’s God been doing in your life recently? We’d love to hear it! Share with us by emailing us at in****************@gm***.com
Curtha Village
- This sixteen-year-old dream has BEGUN!!! More details to follow soon!
Website
- Although we’ve been able to hold off for a while, our website is slowly breaking down due to an expired theme (for those who don’t know what that is, it is the entire layout, design, and main functionality of the site). In order to rebuild the website with all branches of this ministry on it along with getting our online shop to function appropriately, we’ve received two quotes to do this:
- Basic – $5,961.85
- To do everything to best standard – $8,221.85
May we prayerfully ask you to consider donating to this need, please? Since we are listed with the government as a business, we are not able to issue any tax receipts. Donations can be e-transferred to in**@ho******************.org .
Speaking and Writing
- I’m also excited to share that I’ve begun training in a Christian Women’s Speaking Bootcamp by Robyn Dykstra from June 11-July 30 to further my abilities to share God’s truth and His messages of hope, restoration, and strength from His Word with others, so they can grow in deeper intimacy with Jesus! Do you know of any events looking for speakers? Please have them contact me: in**@ho******************.org .
- Would you like to know more about Robyn Dykstra? Read her memoir, The Widow Wore Pink. It’s a wild story! Or better yet, join me at the Hope Event in Sarnia on September 14! Trust me, you will not be disappointed! Tess Scott who’s been on our podcast a couple of times is hosting this event and Robyn is the main speaker. These ladies adore Jesus and deeply understand sin, shame, and the heavy blows life brings. Nothing shocks them. And yet, they both emulate Christ’s joy! Who doesn’t need a good dose of hope and encouragement in the beginnings of the fall season as we get back into our crazy schedules?!
- Here’s an interview with Robyn, Tess, and Tess’ brother Jack from the Fidgets: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/yFXC8DM8qd3WYb1d/
There’s always hope,
Rachel
2 comments
Tess
Thank you!!
You’re a gem. Love you lots.
Rachel
You’re welcome! I’m very excited to join you!