Sharing stories of impact.
The Freedom to Hope by Lani Short
With more hope comes more intimacy with our Father. He is a giver, and as you press in and stop striving – the more you encounter His actual, tangible love.
Upon graduating from college, I had many questions about what my future held but few answers. For me, deciding a career path immediately held a lot of weight and left me feeling more defeated than encouraged. I lacked confidence in achieving the big plans that the Lord had placed in my heart. I believed that God may not come through for me. As a child, we are told to dream, “reach for the stars”, and get excited about becoming an independent adult; but college struck a different chord. The dreams ceased, and practicality set in.
In weekly Round Tables during the Fellows program, community members would come and share their lives with us over a meal. Some of these individuals were successful businessmen and women, influential leaders, entrepreneurs, and others who raised their family full-time. Hearing these stories week after week instilled hope in me, and I began to dream again.
There is power in testimony and encouragement in the way God works in others. It frees you, allows you to pray big, and shows you our Savior in a beautiful light.
God has put numerous promises and reminders in His Word and in your heart: promises for your future and reminders through your past. He was faithful then. Why wouldn’t he be faithful now? Just like the Israelites, we forget about His faithfulness in the past and constantly need reminders. And I mean constantly.
Psalm 62:5-8 says that our hope comes from resting in God alone as our rock and salvation. You are seated in heavenly places, co-heirs with Jesus, more than a conqueror in Christ, and complete in the way He made you. He has a plan for the future, but we must have HOPE. It isn’t a futile concept – our Father who showers us with His love mandates it. With more hope comes more intimacy with our Father. He is a giver, and as you press in and stop striving – the more you encounter His actual, tangible love.
Through the Fellows and hearing the way God worked, I found the freedom to hope for my future and have faith that my dreams aren’t too big for him to handle or fulfill – even when His answers look different than what I anticipated.
That next year, I took a leap of faith and moved to Washington, D.C. to follow His call. It hasn’t been easy. But it is worth the adventure with my Father, the Creator. I don’t think this adventure equates to an easy life, but if He hasn’t let you down so far, He will continue to sustain you by His unending love.
“And these three remain: Faith, Hope, and Love. The strongest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13
A New Year, An Old Truth
Growing up, I watched cartoons every Saturday morning. My favorite was The Jetsons. With a flying car and a robot to do everything, it seemed like they had the good life on demand. At the time, 2018 was a lifetime away, and yet, here we are with more robots than we realize and our needs met at the touch of a button.
From The Jetsons to the twenty-first century, our lives and professions have advanced at an alarming rate. Yet one aspect of our daily lives remains unchanged.
Growing up, I watched cartoons every Saturday morning. My favorite was The Jetsons. With a flying car and a robot to do everything, it seemed like they had the good life on demand. At the time, 2018 was a lifetime away, and yet, here we are with more robots than we realize and our needs met at the touch of a button.
From The Jetsons to the twenty-first century, our lives and professions have advanced at an alarming rate. Yet one aspect of our daily lives remains unchanged. We may be living in “the future”, but our human nature has remained unchanged. We are still broken and searching, in need of that one thing that makes our lives free, purposeful, and more abundant―relationships.
And the ultimate relationship we were made for is the one with our Creator God.
All the artificial intelligence, the most brilliant computers, and our advanced knowledge will never discover another way to know God or experience grace than through a relationship with Jesus. The words of the apostle John are still true: "Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son does not have life.” (I Jn 5:12)
“We must cling to the truth when the world around us screams loudly in our ears.”
As we go into the second half of our Fellows year, we will be tempted to believe the lie that life can be found in the perfect job, the best relationship, or that instagramable apartment―not in the Creator God. We must cling to the truth when the world around us screams loudly in our ears. Jesus did the same when he was tempted in the desert in the Gospel of Matthew. (Mt 4:1-17)
Using God’s truth to navigate this world is not very “Jetson-like". It’s not robotic, or computer generated, or in video form. It doesn’t follow a checklist. It comes to us in the form of a relationship with Jesus, the Living Word. So if you want to know how to pray for the Fellows and myself in the upcoming months, pray God’s Word over us. Pray God’s Word for us.
We have several full months ahead of us. Pray with us as we walk into the second half of our program:
We have our Highlands Ability Battery weekend coming up in early February. Pray for insight into each Fellow’s individual gifts and passions.
We head to Chattanooga to volunteer with Hope for the Inner City at end of February.
The Fellows continue with professional development seminars, Roundtable discussions with members of the community, and investments in their church placement.
The Board and I are interviewing and putting together next year’s class. It’s going to be a busy Spring!
Want to learn more about the Fellows program in Charlotte or get involved? Reach out! I’d love to grab coffee and chat.
Thank you to all of you who pray and support us in so many ways. We are very thankful! As Paul David Tripp says, “We have not been left to secure our own future because God is grace has secured an end to our story more glorious than we can grasp.”
In Grace,
Connice