Investing with Faith / Jolinda Moore

Our joy comes in knowing that God has a plan for us

Long ago, I stopped making New Year’s resolutions. Instead, I started selecting a single word to strive for or grow toward understanding.

This year, my word is joy. If I’m being honest, that has been my word for the last several years—each time trying to spiritually understand how to find joy in the hardships and challenges that are present each day.

The focus on joy these last years has helped me understand that I am not my circumstances, nor am I the challenges of the day. Instead, each day is an opportunity to find and treasure the blessings around me.

While I waivered on holding joy as my word during 2020, I don’t think I could have picked anything more appropriate! It has been a focal point that brings me out of my frustration, stressful moments and times of doubt.

My family and close family friends know that joy is my word. During a rather unpleasant situation at home, I even overheard my daughter say to my son, “how do you think she is going to find joy in this situation?”

No doubt, it took a deep breath; but the glimmer of joy I found was that my children know that I am focused on living fully the life which God has planned for me.

In a recent reflection on the Gospel of Luke 1:26-28, where the Blessed Mother Mary states that she is the handmaid of the Lord, I read, “We may not have asked for whatever it is that God has in mind for us; we may not have even hoped for it, but we have truly found favor with God.”

While this has been a difficult year, it has also been a time of slowing down, pausing to understand what is most important, and shifting our thoughts to the all-powerful God who shows us his mercy and grace.

Within the archdiocesan Office of Stewardship and Development, we strive to assist individuals who desire to align their personal mission and vision with the ministries of the Church. That alignment could be with their home parish or the archdiocese, or perhaps it fits within the work of a specific agency, ministry or a school.

If your journey through 2020 gave you pause to reflect on your financial support of the Church, we are happy to engage in conversations that might help you achieve your goals.

I pray that we take what we have learned this year and apply it to the days ahead, and that our joy comes in knowing that God has a plan in mind for us. It is simply our job to trust and follow him.
 

(Jolinda Moore serves as executive director of the archdiocesan Office of Stewardship and Development. Contact her at 317-236-1462 or the office at www.archindy.org/CCF.) †