As I look back and reflect on the last year, I think about the people who have reached out to us. People who are hurting, facing situations they never thought they’d have to face, dealing with challenges in their families they never imagined they’d have to deal with.

Deborah* contacted our team feeling devastated. She recently discovered that her husband of nearly 20 years had been deeply involved in pornography. A few days after that, he told her he was involved with another woman but assured her it was over. He told her he was very sorry. He wept over his sin. He sought and received forgiveness from God and was asking for the same from Deborah. He wanted to move forward and strengthen their relationship, but she felt numb. She didn’t know what to do.

Davis and Mariette* contacted our team in shock. They have spent the last two decades raising their four daughters in a Christian home. They have always been involved in church and have sacrificed financially in order to send all of them to a Christian school. Within a short period of time, their 20-year-old single daughter announced she was pregnant and their 19-year-old told them she understands herself as male and intends to pursue gender-affirming surgery. Davis and Mariette were blindsided. They wondered what they did wrong and felt as though God had not honoured their lifelong prayers for their daughters. They didn’t know what to do.

When life gets overwhelming, we can feel stuck, not knowing what to do on our own. We reach the limit of our own understanding and feel lost, unsure of what our next steps should be. Maybe one of these stories rings true for you. Maybe you know someone – a friend or family member – who is finding it difficult to hold on to hope in the midst of uncertain circumstances.

At Focus on the Family Canada, we provide people with a safe place to turn to. We act as a lifeline to families who feel blindsided by the challenges they’re facing. We give them tools and advice to guide them through – but most importantly we point them to our one true source of hope and healing: Jesus Christ.

We know that God has the power to bring hope into a hopeless situation. While Deborah, Davis and Mariette are still in the midst of their journeys, we hold on to the truth that, through the work of this ministry, they will be reminded of God’s comfort, his presence and his hope, and be transformed.

We know he has the power to transform because we continually see his healing hand at work.

Andrew and Judy were separated and on a path that was headed for divorce. They decided to give one last attempt at staying married by attending a Hope Restored marriage intensive.

During the counselling intensive, they had a breakthrough.

“We can strive and try on our own strength, but it won’t amount to anything,” Andrew recounts. “That realization was overwhelming. There was peace in it, and for me some joy because it was coming from God. He was working; we were together in the same place.”

God is working.

It is so easy to forget this truth when we’re in the midst of challenges. But God is at work in our lives. We know he is faithful. We know he is good. We know he is there.

And we at Focus on the Family Canada are here to remind people of that when they need to hear it most. Every day families reach out to us looking for help. Every day our care and counselling team receives calls from women like Deborah, parents like Davis and Mariette, and couples like Andrew and Judy. People who are in valleys and needing to see a way through. But we cannot be here for these families without you.

Would you consider sending a gift today? Giving at this time of year is especially important because the donations we receive now determine how many families we can help in the next year.

If you make your donation before December 31, 2019, we can ensure – together – that families who need practical help and a reminder of God’s hope in the next year will receive it.

If you are able to this Christmas, please join with us in this life-changing work. Thank you!

*Names changed to protect privacy