Every year we produce, with the help of some pretty talented artists and photographers, a Year End booklet to share with you. These booklets tell the story of HOPE. They allow you to get a glimpse of the impact that your dollars, prayers, and time are having on this community.

This year’s theme, “A Thrill of HOPE,” is a hat tip to the great Christmas song, “O Holy Night.” We do believe that many of our patients, because of your partnering with us, are granted a sense of HOPE when they walk in our doors that they may have never experienced before.

Our patients are told that they matter, they have value, and they deserve our love. They are told this because it is true! We believe that every person is an image-bearer created by the God of Creation. This fact must drive our interactions with our fellow man.

I could continue down this path, but I would rather you hear from one of our patients, Krista, about her experience at HOPE. These are her words, her heart, and her thoughts:

The ladies there

[at HOPE] had time for an ultrasound and I was 25 weeks along. I knew who his father was – someone who never wanted kids. Someone I barely knew. A snap decision I had instantly regretted was now altering my life. I burst into tears; I could barely look at the monitor where my baby already had a face.

Wendy, who performed the ultrasound, sat and talked with me as I calmed down about my life, concerns, and who was there to help. She was the first immediate, positive force saying things would be alright and that I would be a good mother. I cannot imagine my life without my son and I don’t want to. For as hard as it has been, I would not trade him for anything.

Some may call Krista’s story an anecdote we plucked from absurdity to push our narrative at HOPE. In reality, however, Krista’s story is one of many that we could share, and that we did share in this year’s Year End booklet.

This work is not easy. The news many of our patients find at HOPE concerning their pregnancy brings about a sense of shock and confusion. Many of our patients did not plan for their babies, but sometimes our plans fall and reality sets in.

This is a difficult truth, but with your help and our staff we are able to offer grace, mercy, and love to those that walk in our doors. We are able to point them to a greater truth that even in their overwhelming or unplanned situations they are not alone. They are loved and supported by our staff and thousands of people that stand with HOPE on a daily basis.

We get to be a witness to God’s greatness every day at HOPE as He uses our staff, the local church, and your gifts to impact this community in an amazing fashion. Thank you for making this possible and offering that “Thrill of HOPE” to our patients! Help us continue this work today!

posted by Andrew Wood, Executive Director of Hope Resource Center