Dear Friends,
As we start this new year, you may be thinking about what you expect or hope for the year ahead. I would like to share with you several of my expectations for 2023. After all, great intentions follow great expectations, right?
In this new year, I expect that …
Our clients will leave better than they came onto our campus.
Our Mommies and Daddies will gain new tools to be better parents.
Our single residents will have a better understanding of who they are and how they got here, so they never have to be homeless and alone again.
Kids will be able to sleep at night, knowing they are safe and their parents don’t have to fight about which bills to pay and which ones to let go until another month.
We will have many graduates of drug court.
Many parents will complete their GED this year.
We will have residents who are never again exposed to domestic violence.
Parents will regain custody of their children while in our program.
I envision that …
Many parents will gain the skills of time management, budgeting, and how to manage a household while living on our campus.
We will have parents who gain new, better paying jobs that will offer a bright future in exchange for hard work.
Residents will begin their college and trade school careers while living in our facility.
Many will open their first checking and saving accounts this year and learn the importance and benefits of having both.
I pray and believe that …
We will have many mentors that will open their hearts to our residents by sharing their gifts, talents, and experiences with our residents, parents and their children.
The Women of Jeremiah’s Place will grow so greatly that Sally Kelley will have to figure out what to do with all of them and will have to find a bigger place to host the Christmas party.
Every time our staff reads an email, answers the phone, and checks the mailbox, we will be stunned and overwhelmed by the generosity of our supporters.
Our fundraising events will bring in more revenue than we could ask, budget for, or imagine.
We will partner with more individuals, non-profits, churches, businesses, and our beautiful community in incredibly creative ways to support those who are less fortunate.
We will meet more incredible people who want to volunteer, mentor, and donate in honor of a loved one, buy tires, repair a car, donate to repairs on property, and a vast list of other ways we will be blessed beyond our imagination in God’s perfect timing.
God will (just as He did in 2022) bless this ministry and our residents more than we could ask or imagine, and that we will walk through every day in awe at His provision, timing, and His sense of humor. And because of that, we all will grow closer to Him and rely on His voice and His ways more than our own.
I expect that (as in 2022) every need will be met and many exceeded even before we pray for them. And that 2023 will go by as quickly as the past few months have (if not faster) and quite possibly, at the end of it, I will still feel like I have been drinking water from a fire hose. I know that I will feel as blessed to be a part of North Georgia Interfaith Ministries – Jeremiah’s Place as I did in 2022.
I don’t expect that the issue of homelessness will rid itself this year, but what I do expect is that we will partner with great hearts and brilliant minds to continue to be a beacon in the dark for those in Lumpkin County who want help.
Most importantly, I expect that many of you have been wondering how you will be a blessing in the new year, and I expect that many of you will join us in some capacity at Jeremiah’s Place.
I promise your experience in partnering with us will exceed your wildest expectations. It certainly has mine.
God Bless You and Yours in 2023!
Kerri Johnson
Executive Director
North Georgia Interfaith Ministries – Jeremiah’s Place