What Now!

Mike-P1020072-200Dear Friends,

In last month’s newsletter, I wrote a bit about this past year, living with the pandemic and all the changes that we had to make, wearing face masks, social distancing, vaccinations, etc. In addition, we saw the closure of many places of business, changed the way we conduct church, and the disruption of our schools and universities, etc. across the nation.

So the question now is where do we go from here? And while our first response may be, “I don’t know, I’ve never been here before.” I do know us well enough to be assured that we will come out of this and life will go on. When we as a people of faith face all the unknowns of the future we can be sure that our God is still in control. He will provide for us, guide us and protect us.


While we have never faced a pandemic like this here in the United States in our lifetimes, we have had some events over the years that were disruptive to our life and which we as a nation were able to overcome and move on. We experienced the depression of the 1920’s – 1030’s, World War II, and came out of it stronger than we were before.

During my lifetime, 1942 to the present I’ve seen some things that my generation had never experienced before. The assassination of our President, John F. Kennedy, our Attorney General, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King. Then came the war in Vietnam, the tragedy of 911, and now this Covid 19 pandemic.

If you watch much of the news today what you see and hear is that we are in deep trouble as a nation and there is much to fear. Anxiety and fear about the future is a staple of most network news. But again, let me remind you that God is still in control and we as believers can hang on to this, He will never let you down and He will always provide a way.

Back in 1994 when I resigned from my job at the church and took Wholeness Ministries out to operate as an independent ministry my biggest fear was how I was going to support my family and pay the bills. It was a huge risk to step out but God had assured me that He would provide. It has been just over 26 years and we have been amply blessed as a family.

What Are You Afraid Of?
Some time back I was reading material from Brennan Manning and came across a paragraph that I thought was quite appropriate considering the state of our economy and the fear that we are in deep trouble as a nation. I trust you will find it comforting and encouraging.

  • “The question that the gospel of grace puts to us is simply this: Who shall separate you from the love of Christ?

    What are you afraid of?

    Are you afraid that your weakness could separate you from the love of Christ? It can’t.

    Are you afraid that your inadequacies could separate you from the love of Christ? They can’t.

    Difficult marriage, loneliness, anxiety over the children’s future? They can’t.

    Negative self-image? It can’t.

    Economic hardship, racial hatred, street crime? They can’t.

    Persecution by authorities, going to jail? They can’t.

    The Gospel of grace calls out: Nothing can ever separate you from the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.

    You must be convinced of this, trust it, and never forget to remember. Everything else will pass away. Faith will become vision, hope will become possession, but the love of Jesus Christ that is stronger than death endures forever.”

So, What Now? We trust in God and move on doing what we always do, overcome!

Continue to lift us up in prayer. Thank you for your faithfulness.

God bless,

Mike

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