Our 531 Initiative is a practice of ‘Breakthrough Prayer’ where we ask God to remove barriers and instill within us dreams and visions for us as individuals and our community as Journey of Hope. “531” signifies our merger date of May 31, 2020 (5/31), which is a pneumonic device to remind us to pray our breakthrough prayer at 5:31 in the morning or evening:
Creator God,
Break through our lives and Journey of Hope with new opportunities, new life and new power to do far more than we could ever imagine. In Jesus' name. Amen.
One piece that continues to be revealed to us are witnesses of “conflux moments.” These are times where we are fully aware of God’s presence in our lives and circumstances. We encourage people to share those moments with their sisters and brothers at Journey of Hope and beyond. You will find some testimonies below as well as an opportunity for you to share one of your conflux moments.
In the last year of her life, Lorrie Young was working on a quilt that she was determined to make for her mother-in-law, Sandy. She had pieced together the quilt top and was ready to begin the quilting process itself. Mary Van Slyck provided quilt backing material and I took Lorrie to Hobby Lobby to shop for the quilt batting, the material that goes between the backing and the top of the quilt to form a "sandwich" and provide loft. Then we came over to the church and used the big table in the meeting room across from the office to lay out and pin baste the entire quilt ... it was finally ready to quilt!
Lorrie spent as much time as she could hand quilting the quilt ... it was a long labor of love as she courageously but slowly lost her fight against pancreatic cancer. She had asked me to finish the quilt for her if she was unable to get it finished and after her memorial service, Jason and her daughter Monica sent the project to me. When I laid the quilt out on my dining room table, it was literally possible to follow the last months of Lorrie's illness by watching the change in her stitching as she became weaker. All quilters like their stitching to be as even as possible, so what should I do? Should I take out some of the stitching and redo it to make it even? Should I quilt next to her stitching and then finish it up? In the end, I decided to leave in the stitched story of the end of her life and removed only a few stitches to better secure her work where it ended and mine began, trying to match what she had attempted to do.
It took a LONG time to finish the quilting, pick out material for a binding, cut and attach it, but it was finally done! It was time to send it to California.
The quilt was folded, bubble wrapped and taken to the UPS Store so it could be packed and sent. The young man who waited on me seemed totally unwavered by all the craziness of a full store with people trying to get gifts to destinations during Christmas -- when the weather wasn't cooperating and there were many delays in deliveries throughout the country. He looked at the quilt and said, "That's a really pretty blanket." I briefly explained to him that it was a handmade quilt that I had finished for a friend who had passed and it was going to her
family in California. He just stood there for a moment looking at it and finally said to me, "It's really pretty ... it's obvious that two spirits were at work here." was speechless ... during all that time I had been worried about right decisions, right skills, right stitches, time lines and --- since I had been the recent victim of a porch pirate — would it even get there?? With that one remark, he was right at the center of what the last year had really been .... Two "spirits" working together and finally finding peace at last.
-Jan P.
My husband and I were called to be with his cousin's side as his uncle was passing. The daughters asked if we could be present because I understood this process and they were asking for guidance. We arrived and I spent some time with his daughters, answering their questions and hearing their stories. We then all went in with their uncle and said our goodbyes.
I sat down in a chair in the corner of the room as the daughters and spouses continued to be around their uncle. After about 30 minutes they all sat down too and we shared stories together. I kept an eye on the uncle's breathing. I noticed a huge change in his breathing and told the daughters his final moments were getting close and asked if they wanted to be around him. They all said yes. I continued to sit and at that moment felt a huge nudge to stand up and start a hand holding circle. All was silent for a few moments when God told me (actually I think I just opened my mouth) and I began citing the Lord’s Prayer. The family joined and as we said “thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” he took his last breath. After this took place, the daughters were around him and one of them came up to me and thanked me for starting the Lord’s Prayer exactly when I did. She said he prayed this prayer every night before sleep. She wanted too herself, but the words wouldn’t come. She said at that exact moment, she knew he and God were standing together reciting the prayer together and God’s will was done. He was now free of suffering and pain. I never thought of this as a conflux moment and just thought I was grateful I could be by their side, but I now understand this moment was far more. It was an undeniable conflux moment.
— Kimberly L.
When our grandchildren take a nap at our house we always sing a song and say a prayer before going down. Today Monte and I were singing "This Little Light of Mine". I stopped after the 1st verse and Monte said "Gram, we have to keep singing because Jesus doesn't want us to hide His light!" Love it when a 3 year old feels God's presence and the difference God makes in our lives! Thank you, Jesus for touching me this afternoon thru the voice of a child!
— Carole B.
I volunteer at Away which is a place where kids preschool to sixth grade come and learn about God through Bible verses. There was this new boy there who didn’t know much about God and his Son, Jesus. I was offered to teach him about them through the most important verse which is John 3:16.
After reading it to him, I asked him, “So, who did God send to earth?” He didn’t say Jesus, which gave me the opportunity to explain to him that Jesus loved us so much that God had to send him down to die on a cross for our sins. I explained what “sin” meant which was bad things we do and the boy said, “well, my sister is going to hell because she leaves her wrappers on the floor.” In that moment, God gave me the confidence to say that, “no, no that’s not true, if you accept Jesus into your heart, you will go to heaven!” He then looked at me, kinda shocked, but it also looked like he taking it all in. God was with me in that moment to tell him the truth and get a child to believe!
— Savannah L.
It was on Christmas Eve at both services that I felt the God’s Spirit around me and through me. I got goosebumps all over my body when we sang Silent Night.
— Jeff G.
DO YOU HAVE A CONFLUX MOMENT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE?
We’d love to hear about it.