Dear Fellowship Family,

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” - Jeremiah 29:11

This well-known and often-quoted verse brings comfort and offers hope. It’s a verse we can cling to in difficult times. It’s a verse that I’m sure many of us have repeated over and over in the last year. In January of 2020, we embraced the year full of hope and anticipation, not knowing what it would hold. We couldn’t have predicted a pandemic would shutter schools and businesses, changing the ways we live and interact with each other. The year has been long, and the journey has been arduous, but we need only look to a young, engaged couple in Bethlehem to see that God has been leading His people through unexpected journeys for thousands of years.

Long ago, on that road to Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph embarked on an arduous journey of their own. Mary, young, unwed, and pregnant, and her fiancé, Joseph, did not fully understand what God was doing in their lives. Choosing to respond obediently in the face of the unknown took them on a journey that would change the world. The birth of their son would be the delivery of our Savior.

Today, God still calls us to follow Him on journeys into the unknown, and we still wait expectantly to see His story revealed. We have no idea how 2020 will be used to glorify God, but based on what He did that night so long ago in Bethlehem, we can have confidence that God will deliver amazing gifts.

Waiting expectantly,

Dr. Kathryn M. Teston