It’s hard to believe that it is now January 1, 2021. What a year 2020 was, a year that confronted us with all the things outlined by the wise sage of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. 2020 was a year of great challenges, but also a year of opportunities, a year of discouragements, but also a year of optimism and hope. The past year was a time to ask ourselves a most important question: Am I going to allow the challenges that I faced define me, or am I going to use such challenges as an opportunity to shape me into becoming a better person?
I do not wish to downplay the suffering and loss that so many of us have experienced over the past several months. These situations are always difficult to bear. It’s never easy to lose a loved one, to suffer from disease, to face dire financial situations and uncertainty. Yet coming through these times can result in greater good. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5:1-5, we can “have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
It’s this hope in Christ that leads me to reflect on what was good in the past year, things that revealed to us the truth that “in everything God works for good with those who love him” (Romans 8:28). In relation to God’s Word for Warriors, I think on these things:
· God provided GWFW with dedicated and committed individuals who made 2020 one of the best years for us in our efforts to touch the moral and spiritual lives of our veterans, with record numbers of teachers being trained, classes being taught, and the power of God’s word being witnessed in lives.
The maturing of the GWFW outreach by individuals using their talents to develop the ministry, men like Brian McCutchen, our former Director of Development, and Jim Humphrey, our present VP and Director of Development, along with our four men and one woman who comprise our Board of Directors, plus two men who serve as “Officio” Board members.
· 2020 was a year in which God blessed us with record donations to further enhance and expand our outreach to veterans.
· The Lord has opened up a door for us to move GWFW into an office complex in the Bellevue section of Nashville to be able to more effectively train civic and religious leaders to establish veterans’ ministries in various venues, schools, churches, YMCAs, VFWs, American Legions, etc.
· The “down-time” we experienced during the COVID-19 situation allowed GWFW to develop planned new outreaches in 2021, such as, ministries to women veterans, 1st responders, and various corporation employees.
These are just a few of the evidences that God continues to “work for good” in all times and circumstances in our lives. Such evidence moves us to appreciate so much the words of the wise man: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
-Tom Seals