November Blessings

How does one begin to ‘count ones blessings?’ 

By thinking of a fall filled with colour and blue skies and sun -

By realizing that the Groups of Hope program is growing and that women and men are being blessed by participating in it: in Bolivia, in Colombia, in India and in Canada.

Tonight I heard of  someone in Africa who is interested in talking to me about the program – who sees potential for using it in her ministry.

In a little over a week’s time I will fly into the north to mentor the program in a northern native community, where there are several leaders who have a vision of using the program to bring hope to the hurting. 

The Handbook has been translated into Spanish and I am eagerly awaiting final word that it is in print and ready to put into the hands of those who are eager to read it and to use it in ministry.

For these and many other blessings – I give thanks to a God of Hope.  the theme verse for the Groups of Hope comes to mind:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13

Giving thanks for a great workshop

On Saturday, November 6th sixteen women gathered at Spring Garden Church for a day long workshop.  I led three full sessions of the program as well as sharing examples of how the program is being used internationally and in Canada.

It was wonderful to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit as we participated, listened to each other, discovered new solutions for the things we are going through and enjoyed the fellowship of chatting with old friends and new.

I am feeling excited about God opening up the opportunities to take the Groups of Hope into native communities and teach men and women there how to use it .

I will be heading north at the end of November for four days.  The weekend will involve a workshop to teach individuals how to facilitate the groups of hope and then there will be opportunity for each of them to have an opportunity to co-lead a session and finally participate in a session that is led by two of them in the community.

It is what my dream has been – to see individuals catch the vision of how the program could be useful.  One man shared with us:  “I have an actor inside of me and I know I can lead these groups”.  Someone else said: “Our native people are visual and this program will appeal to them”.

The interesting thing is that all of us can respond to the simplicity of drama and illustration.  The program encourages the facilitator to convey the teaching with as few words as possible – allowing the participants to respond verbally to what they are learning.  One of the strengths of the Groups of Hope is each partiucipant is affirmed by being listened to and everyone in the group is equal. 

We each held a coloured maple leaf as the workshop ended and shared one thing we were thankful for.  I had learned a new way to manage anxiety by listening to the suggestion of one of the other participants – and around the circle each shared something that they were going to take home and that would make a difference for us in our daily lives