This is a bit early for the April newsletter, but since our January, February, and March newsletters never got sent out, "early" can only be a good thing! :-)

The first three months of 2007 saw many changes for True Hope Counseling. Some of them challenging, all of them positive!

In December we were given notice that New Life Free Methodist Church, the church we had office space in, was hiring two new additional pastors and needed the office space they had been lending out to us up to that point. Within two weeks we had two offers for new (rent-free) office space. One offer was from a church in Johnson City, NY and the second was in West Oneonta, NY. After prayer and discussion between Melissa, Chad and Nichole Post, and the True Hope Board, it was decided that True Hope would move to West Oneonta, NY where Melissa's husband is an Associate Pastor. The biggest deciding factor in this was, whereas the Triple Cities has numerous Christian counselors available to the community, the area of West Oneonta does not and the ministry had a better chance for expanding once relocated there.

January was spent with the three counselors wrapping up with current clients, helping them transition to new counselors, or making arrangments for them to continue with True Hope counselors at the new location. Chad and Nichole launched out into private practice in addition to Chad's full time job as an intake counselor for the EAP and Nichole's job at Davis College. In January they also took on a part time teaching position as a team at Davis college. Nichole reported just two weeks ago that they are currently unable to take on any more private practice clients as their schedules are booked solid! How far from the journey of faith they were on a year ago at this time! Praise God!

The move to West Oenonta was not without a few hurdles in the road, but with prayer, these hurdles were crossed and the new office was set up by the second week of February in West Oneonta Baptist Church. Currently Melissa's client load consists of former clients commuting from Binghamton as well as a couple of internet clients via the True Hope website and secure chat program. Slowly word is getting out that True Hope is in Oneonta and some very postive contacts have been made with area pastors and ministries within the past month.

God's timing is perfect and once again that has been revealed in the past three months. Although Melissa and her husband were diagnosed with infertility and told that having their own children would not happen aside from treatments, which they discontinued in January, they became pregnant in February! Given the infertility diagnosis that put the pregnancy at an automatic high-risk pregnancy category, as well as struggling with a pregnancy condition called "hyper-emesis", Melissa and Chuck are awed that this took place after the hour commute, one way, was cut from Melissa's work with True Hope Counseling. The timing could not have been more perfect! Melissa would have more than likely had to cut out counseling all together, due to the distance combined with the pregnancy concerns, but now that the office is located next door to their residence, Melissa is able to keep up with her current counseling load. (And despite the misery of the hyper-emesis, Melissa's pregancy is progressing as any normal pregnancy would with high hormone levels and a beating heart seen at 5 1/2 weeks! The due date is November 13th!)

Thank you to everyone who has continued to support us with financial gifts, words of encouragement, and prayer. God continues to work and build the ministry that HE began and it is just as thrilling to be a part of it now as it was at it's conception in 2004!

All glory to God!

Posted by True Hope Counseling at 06:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ Immediately available (rent-free) office space for True Hope Counseling as we left our old office building. In fact, we had to choose which offices we would take!
~ Continued financial gifts from supporters.
~ Numerous cards and emails from current and former clients, thanking True Hope for the ministry it provided as we prepared to move to our new location.
~ Several good contacts within a month of our move to West Oneonta, NY with area pastors!
~ Increased activity on our website. Being able to reach people in the US and Canada with the news of God's true hope and abundant life.

Posted by True Hope Counseling at 06:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My husband and I love to watch movies but are hard pressed to find any that are decent enough to watch. Time and again we run into movies that we start but can't finish due to the language, violence, or sexual themes. Sometimes though, once in awhile, we come across a movie that is not only decent and family-friendly, it touches our hearts deeply and leaves a lasting impact on our lives. Facing the Giants was one such movie.

Facing the Giants is a movie about a Christian high school football coach, Grant Taylor, struggling to keep his team alive. the team is on a 6-year losing streak when the movie begins. The rest of Grant's personal life seems to be falling apart at the seams as well. He has a car that won't stay running, a house that needs repairs, and him and his wife Brooke are struggling with infertility. A trip to the Doctor reveals that the infertility lies with Grant. As everything piles up, Grant hits the proverbial bottom.

Just as Grant is about to give up a gentelman who goes through the halls of the Christian high school praying for the students, comes into Grant's offce and encourages him to keep on going. He tells him that one cannot fully know when the end has come. We then see Grant make a point of praying and searching out the Lord regarding the circumstances in his life, especially the football team, and making a determination that he is going to "prepare for rain" and not give up with his players.

As Grant's personal journey unfolds throughout the movie, so does that of his wife Brooke as she struggles with infertility. As a woman also diagnosed wtih infertilty (though we recently recieve a miracle pregnancy) I felt that the emotions surrounding this heart breaking issue were more than adequately and honestly portrayed within the movie. From the tears to the sacrfice of praise my own heart responded in answer to the wide array of emotions portrayed by Brooke as the movie progressed.

For those used to the usual Hollywood drama and acting this movie may seem stifled and at times poor in the acting department. However, for those seeking a family friendly movie that touches on heart issues that regular, every day people struggle with, this is the movie to watch.

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Posted by True Hope Counseling at 02:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I was in my early 20's my maternal grandmother passed from her earthly home to her heavenly home. As I was helping my mother and Aunts sort through her belongings we found her prayer journal. For decades my grandmother had prayed for everyone in her world. From her immediate and extended family to the milkman who used to deliver the milk. Not only were they written in her journal, each individual had their own page, and as the years had passed she had made notes about the very things she was praying about for them.

As a young woman, this impacted me in a profound way; especially as I saw "my" pages she had kept for me. I can still remember how deeply my heart was touched to find that my grandmother had prayed for me in ways that I couldn't begin to grasp as a child and teenager. One of my aunts commented, "Well, I guess when she told people she was praying for them, she really was, huh?" In that moment I knew I wanted to be like that. I wanted to be a person of prayer like my grandmother was. I wanted to actually back up the words, "I am praying for you" with actual prayer.

That decision that day, in my grandmother's bedroom, has led me on a journey that is far from over. My journey has fluctuated between the extremes of intense excitement about praying for people and deep doubt and despair that my prayers are doing anything. I have had seasons of having total faith that there is indeed a purpose to prayer and intercession and I have had seasons of wondering why, if everything is already fore-ordained by God, do we bother to pray? I have had times of powerful prayer and times when I can barely form the words in my heart much less with my mouth.

I am currently in one of those times where I have no emotional or spiritual energy to pray. And yet, as I continue to quench this almost obsessive thirst to read articles and books on prayer, I continue to attempt to pray because I know that it does make a difference. I'm still unsure as to how it all works with God's Sovereignty and fore-knowledge of everything that is going to take place, but I have come to rest in the fact that despite my complete understanding, based on truths of God's Word, there are reasons we pray.

For the past three months I have been reading and re-reading a tiny book passed on by my paternal grandmother (also a prayer warrior) entitled How To Pray by R.A. Torrey. Although it's a short read (only a pocket size book wtih 107 pages) there are so many thoughts to dwell on and take with me into my prayer times that I have to keep re-reading it and meditating on the truths that are presented.

In Chapter 1, R.A. stresses the importance of prayer. Why do we pray? We pray because (to name a few):

1. We are commanded to (Ephesians 6:18)
2. We have an enemy that seeks to destroy us (Ephesians 6:12)
3. It is God's appointed was way for obtaining things (James 4:2)
4. The men that God sets forth as examples for us regarded prayer as the most important business of their lives (Acts 6:2-4)
5. Prayer occupied a very prominent place in the earthly life of our Savior (Mark 1:35; Luke 6:12)
6. Praying continues to remain a major ministry of our risen Savior (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34)

The entire book is powerful but the following is one of the most powerful things R.A. wrote about the topic:

"In order for a prayer to really be unto God, there must be a definite and conscious approach to God when we pray. . . In very much of our prayer, there is really only little thought of God. Our mind is taken up with the thought of what we need and is not occupied with the thought of the mighty and loving Father of whom we are seeking. Oftentimes, we are neither occupied with the need nor with the One to whom we are praying. Instead, our mind is wandering here and there throughout the world. There is not power in that sort of prayer. But, when we really come into God's presence, really meet Him face to face in the place of prayer, really seek the things that we desire from Him, then there is power. . . This is only possible by the Holy Spirit's power, so we should look to the Holy Spirit to really lead us unto the presence of God. And, we should not be hasty in words until He has brought us there. . . "

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Posted by True Hope Counseling at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)