Posts by Pastor Hope (Page 3)

Lately, the feeling of a heavy heart has invaded my whole world.  I have been walking through this season with my bible in hand and eyes seeking what God has planned for the next steps.  Although this last month something has changed. I feel like God has called me to ministry to not just be the person who always has a smile and joy on my face, but also a person who is ok with showing pain at times.  The…

I have been reflecting on the days since the stay-at-home guidelines began. I went back and started to count the days and realized we are at 116 days since the official word to stay-at-home started.  There are some other things we are able to do now other than stay-at-home, but these last 116 days have been like none other in my lifetime and many of our lifetimes. As I began to think about the emotions I have felt during this…

As the world keeps moving around us and we go from one tragedy in our world to the next, it can seem to be overwhelming.  This stress and sense of being overwhelmed can get so bad that we not only have spiritual aches, but it can affect us physically as well.  When I was a child and I would hear an older person saying “they died of a broken heart”, my mind could simply not understand the words. I never…

As the weeks go by in this time of separation from others I have found that there are good days and some not so good days.  When those not so good days come I discover that even keeping busy doesn’t keep the low feelings at bay. Those moments are when I begin to search for scripture that will turn my day around. Then I decided that if I was going to search for scripture that was uplifting to me then…

Over the past couple months, I have been meeting with our SFNAZ pre-teen girls and now I have started meeting with our SFNAZ teen girls to go through bible study titled “Defined: Who God Says You Are.” It has been a blessing to my soul to hear the girls share their reflections on the study, but even more impactful has been the reflection on my own life that the study topics and discussion has triggered. This week’s lesson was about…

This week no doubt has been one like none other in the lives of the world and our church family.  Our stories are all very similar; full of uncertainties. I have to be honest when all of this information for “social distancing” came into our lives I became very uneasy and trapped in my head. I was overthinking things and worrying too much. I am a very social human, as most of you know, and putting the limitations on the…

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. Luke 2:11-14 This year at our annual Santa’s Workshop…

This last weekend Chris and I had a little weekend away. As usual we like to seek out adventure and hopefully not get ourselves into too much trouble.  This trip was a typical one for us, it did not disappoint on the adventure side of things.  One of the days we set out to kayak in the Gig Harbor area, more specifically between Raft Island and Cutts Island.  As many of you get to know me you will realize I…

As we begin to reflect on those special moments in life such as completing a college degree, planning a wedding, preparing for the birth of a child, we focus on every little detail of what needs to be planned out. In doing this planning we might make a list, think of the “what ifs”, contact loved ones, and share the joy of it all with others. All the preparation that we put into the long process of planning is often…

As many of you know I am from Arizona. This is my second Christmas and New Year that I have lived in Spokane and the journey of identifying “home” has become more complicated. My heart longs for home, which I still refer to as Arizona. Some may think that I should be over this longing since I have been here almost two years, but I don’t think the longing will ever leave my heart. You see I literally grew up…