Well Praise be unto our Jesus! We are in our 31st year of serving the great work of Helping Hearts Heal, through the power found in the Holy Spirit, by faith. Thank you, Father, for the great gift of your Son, Jesus! We are not ashamed of the gospel for it is in Him that we now live and move and have our being. This world we live in is unsettling; many things are here today and gone tomorrow and many things we could rely on are barely there any longer. There is only one that we can count on, and His heart has never changed-Jesus! He is the same yesterday, today and forever!

If you are feeling overwhelmed by all that is going on around you-and you are Born-again, then call us here at Hope Ministries and make an appointment to see one of us. We all have had these times of being overwhelmed and we need one another to help lead us back to the only TRUTH found through relationship with the Trinity. Being reminded that there is now therefore NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because the law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death!

Please be confident to know that we are not trying to build a denomination or church, but we are here for the wounded and hurting in the church. Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life, so all He asks of us is to stand and then stand firm in His might! If you are not Born-again, then all you have is yourself and the worlds’ advice. But as Born-again children of God, we have the advocate from the Father; the Holy Spirit, the “spirit of truth” who guides us and restores our soul.

I pray that this finds the hearts of those needing encouragement found only through relationship to God. This is ultimately how it works at Hope: we see His work through us by His Holy Spirit, resulting in love, joy and peace. Remember too, that there are no costs or charges for your visits and no limit on times you can be seen.  We only require a willing heart to receive of the Agape love of the Father, through the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Hope to see you soon, Blessings and love, Joe

LEW GERVAIS, ADDICTIONS ~ PASTORAL COUNSELOR

Just Say NO to drugs or pornIn the 1980’s Nancy Reagan as part of the United States “war on drugs” coined the words, “Just say No.” That might have sounded like a good thing to do when it came to using drugs or drinking alcohol, especially for children, however it just didn’t work. One reason it didn’t work is what is called ego Fatigue, or sometimes called ego depletion.  We know the value of “just saying no” when it comes to staying sober, especially during the period of craving that follows our early days in recovery. The real issue is that we often get tired of saying ‘no’ to every craving or every thought hour after hour and day after day. Even when we are trying to fight the urge to get high or run to porn there are things happening just under the surface (subconsciously) that can hijack our ability to stay sober and clean.

Marc Lewis is a former drug addict, a phycologist and a neuroscientist who has studied and written about this phenomenon. So, there you are, craving to get high just “one more time,” and saying to yourself over and over again: No, don’t do it! Then ego fatigue creeps up on you. You become tired of fighting the urge and eventually give up the fight. Later on, you give yourself permission. Then when the impulse takes over, at the proper opportune time, you get high, or view porn again. That scenario plays out in a person’s head mostly on a subconscious level. The thoughts and the subsequent desires are taken over by emotions that the person might not even be aware are there. Marc Lewis says to say ‘yes’ to something else, rather than trying to fight the urge. Directing your mind on something you can do instead.

I have a slightly different approach to fighting the urge. I tell people to use the urge and thought to get high as an alarm clock telling you it is time to pray. If every time someone gets the urge to get high or watch porn it causes him to think about praying instead it will have a reinforcing effect in his life. If he actually begins to communicate with God in prayer the urge will soon go away, allowing him to stay sober and clean for another day. Prayer does change things…it changes the person doing the praying. When God first showed me this biblical principal, I tried applying it to my own life by fighting sexually related thoughts and desires. After a few stumbles and falls I began to experience more than sobriety in my life, I began to experience freedom, real freedom. There is a huge difference between just being clean and sober, and being free from cravings and urges that want to take me out of the race. Determined ‘willpower’ might be able to get a person sober, but ‘God’s power’ working in a believer’s life will set him ‘free’ from whatever addiction he is battling. John 8:32 says that the Truth will set you free.  

Lew Gervais

TOM & BARBARA MURGATROYD, HOPE OFFICE ADMINISTRATION & ANGER MANAGEMENT COUNSELORS, PRISON FELLOWSHIP /ANGEL TREE

Barbara and I are both doing well and our prayer is that the lord continues to keep you immersed in His steadfast love. We’d like to thank all of those who contributed to Hope either through prayer or financially and we have no doubt that as  the tribulations of this world increase, many more people will walk though our doors, seeking the answers that only God can give. God bless you, Tom and Barbara

ALICE IANNANTUANO – WOMEN’S COUNSELOR

What we don’t find likeable or acceptable in others is a plumbline to our own brokenness. If we don’t allow ourselves to look inward at our own sorrows and seek the healing knowledge of God to minister to us, we remain stagnant and stunted. If we don’t believe God can help and heal us, we remain stuck in that paper bag  of life that we cannot punch a hole through to be free. Here at Hope, we do hope to minister to you the love of Christ in whom and through whom you’ll find that you live and move and have your being, with great aim by His word and in His faithfulness. The biblically based ministry counselling found at Hope is free. The love here is free. The only cost is your effort and time to seek the grace of God for your healing. It’s up to you, your grace awaits. Hope to see you, God’s blessings to you!

 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:13   Alice

GINA LINDQUIST –ADDICTIONS-PASTORAL COUNSELOR-PASSION MINISTRIES

 My ministry was born out of a desire to help others heal from the hurts of the past and come into the abundant life that God has planned for them. When I give my testimony, I adhere to the fact that the bad things that happened to me were not the will of God but a result of ignorance of the knowledge of God.

2Peter 1:2-4 says: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; as His divine power has given us everything, we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

My life was the way it was because of the choices that I and others made and that can happen when you live a life not knowing your creator and who He has planned for you to be. We may  live in a corrupt world and with an enemy that wants to destroy us but God anticipated this and made provision for this at the cross. Divine power is available to us through the knowledge of Him because He is the one who called us, based on HIS glory and goodness.  We have a purpose, an identity. He gave us promises that enable us to be like Him and escape the corruption of the world.  The key here is knowing Him and the truths that are found in the Bible. Jesus said in John chapter 8, that if we abide in His word, we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. Too many people don’t know that the Word of God has instructions on how to navigate any situation we may have to face in this life and it’s only the truth we know that will set us free. God gave us His Word so that we CAN know Him, It’s what He wants. Paul’s prayer for the believers in Ephesians 1:18-19 states: having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,  and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.

We can know His plans for us and how to carry them out. As a loving caring Father, he wouldn't leave us without instruction any more than a good earthly father would not instruct his children on how to live successfully in the world.

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Joshua 1:8 Love in Christ-Gina