My hopes for 2025

Someone asked me recently what my hopes for 2025 were, and I responded that I didn’t have any. That didn’t sit well with me, so I made it a matter of prayer. And God, in his faithfulness, answered me.

I was reading the story about where David and his men had gone out to fight, and upon their return they found their homes had been plundered, and their wives and children taken.  Some of the men blamed David, and talked of stoning him. But we are told that “David found strength in the Lord his God.” Another translation says that “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” I had already been trying to do that, by spending time alone with the Lord every day, and taking time to worship every day. I have also been working again on being grateful for all the good things that the Lord has given me. This word to me was not a rebuke, but an encouragement to continue in the things that I was working on.

2024 was a difficult year for me. I lost three things that I consider extremely important. Firstly I lost my church. This church had been the best I had ever attended, for a while. I was given instructions on how to pray for people who came forward for various reasons after a service. Someone helped me to move in the prophetic. There were opportunities to teach on a Sunday morning, or to emcee the service. I was having a wonderful time. I was receiving from the Lord, and passing much on to other people. I was blessed and many others were also blessed through my ministry. Then Covid arrived.

Even before Covid there were a few problems in the church. One of the leaders was teaching some new ideas he had encountered, and I think he had not fully thought them through. Nevertheless he preached them from the front, and several people were upset. When the main leaders failed to adequately address the concerns, some people eventually left the church.

More people left over the masking and vaccine debates during Covid. Others left because it was too hard to join in online, or because if they had to be online, why not choose a more famous speaker? And from a couple of hundred we were down to around twenty folks at a Sunday service. That was once we were permitted to meet again.

I was determined to stay loyal. The ministry opportunities were still available to me, it was just that we tended to pray for the same people every week who came forward after a service. And I continued to spend over six hours to prepare a sermon for about ten adults. But I enjoyed the preparation, so really it didn’t bother me too much.

Sadly the leaders were hurting, though, and seemed to be struggling to find a vision for the church. Some things that I was told were going to happen seemed to have been forgotten. Still I continued to put in a lot of effort to build up the church. I had started an intercession group before every service, and a fellowship group every other week after the service. I ran a ladies breakfast once a month, and continued to emcee whenever I was asked to. There were some things I was not happy with though, and when I tried to address these issues with the leaders I did not receive a positive response. It simply became too much for me.

The second thing that I lost last year was my family. No one died, I hasten to add, but my daughter and her husband, and my five grandkids, all moved to Halifax. A long way away. The ironic thing was that when they had first talked about moving they asked my husband and I to consider moving with them. I had said that was not an option, because I was so fully committed to my church.

I knew the move was coming. They had been talking and praying about it for a while. Then they put their house on the market, sold it, bought another one in Bedford, near Halifax, and moved away. Neither of them even had a job offer when they sold the house, but they felt this was the way that the Lord was leading them. And of course we supported them in this. But it was hard. And it was even harder at Christmas when the flights were too expensive for them to come back here, or for us to all go there. We did have a great time with our other daughter though, but it was very quiet.

And the third thing I lost was my health. No I’m not dying, or anything even close to that. I have arthritis in my hip. It’s not that bad, but for me it is a nightmare. I love to be active. I love to play tennis: outside in the summer, and inside in the winter. I play pickleball too. I swim, I golf, I row, and I love to go on walks. Right now if I walk more than a hundred yards or so I am in pain. I have started using a walking stick so that I can walk a little further, and first thing in the morning, when things are often easier, I will jog round the lake a couple of times. It’s less than two kilometres. I’m pushing myself as hard as I can, but I am hurting. And I don’t like that.

When I read on in the story about David, it says that David pursued those who had plundered his home, and that he recovered everything that had been taken from him and his men. I am taking that as my promise for 2025. No I am not expecting my family to return from Bedford – they need to press in for everything that God called them there for. But I am looking to see them a few times. We will fly there, and hopefully they will be able to visit here too.

As far as my church, however, I am asking the Lord to place me in a new situation where I can once again minister to others on a regular basis. I want to be blessed, and in turn I want to bless others. And I’m asking for healing. God can do it. And meanwhile I will encourage myself in the Lord.