SGNScoops Magazine: Editor’s Last Word by Lorraine Walker for January 2018
Happy New Year. I trust everyone had a good holiday season. For those whose December was a time of sorrow, I understand and pray that this new year will bring encouragement and joy from our Lord.
Here at SGNScoops, we like to highlight an up-and-coming gospel music artist every year on our January cover. The Jordan Family Band is a great new family group that everyone seems to be talking about.
I first became aware of them by catching videos on Facebook by Randa Jordan. It was just her and her piano, and it was so real and heartfelt, as well as being accomplished and skillfully presented, that I kept looking for her when I went online. Then, her family joined her, and I wondered what rock I’d been hiding under that I wasn’t aware of the Jordan Family Band until then. Seriously, if you haven’t heard them yet, find them on Facebook, and they will touch your heart. Be watching for them to climb the charts in 2018.
It is also nice to hear some new year’s resolutions by gospel artists and to think about our own goal-setting. As we consider the year ahead at SGNScoops, we would like to have your input. Who would you like us to feature? Is there a story or film or book you would like us to cover? Please send me an email with your suggestions at lorraine@sgnscoops.com.
Taking stock of your personal life is also good at any time, not just at the beginning of the year. Most people mention their physical goals, but what about your spiritual goals? It’s a good time to pray about God’s direction.
Perhaps He is urging you to reach out to your neighbor this year, to find a missionary to support, or to dare to walk more closely to the light of His glory. I think we as a society are becoming more aware of religious persecution, but what some may not realize is that Christians are persecuted and martyred around the world. The tide against us is growing higher all the time, as is evidenced by daily news reports. The closer you walk with the Lord, the more this tide will grow, but a life with Jesus is worth it all.
If the new year appears to be filled with the same difficulties that you have faced in the past, remember that the Lord knows and wants to help you along the road you have to walk. Remember that He is building character in you. Romans 5:1-5 (NIVUK) “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.â€
Trust God to be your source of peace and hope in 2018. Happy New Year.
Questions? Comments? Email me at lorraine@sgnscoops.com
By Lorraine Walker
First published by SGNScoops Magazine in January 2018.
