Dear Church,

What a magnificent Sunday we experienced together!  Worship, the Word, Communion, Tayler’s testimony, and baptism, what more could we ask for?  Glory be to God for His presence and His work among us!  In 1488, when the Portuguese explorers first rounded the southern tip of Africa, they faced violent winds, unpredictable currents, and massive waves.  The journey was so treacherous that they named the place “The Cape of Storms.”

But that is not what it is called today.  When the explorers returned home and reported that they had reached the southernmost point of Africa, and that it could open the door to a new sea route to India, the king didn’t see danger.  He saw a possibility.  He renamed it: Cabo da Boa Esperança — “The Cape of Good Hope.”

We all face seasons that feel like a Cape of Storms, moments when the waves rise, the sky darkens, and we wonder if we will make it through.  Yet, by God’s preserving hand, we weather storms we once feared would break us.  And when we look back, those same storms become reminders of His faithfulness. What once felt like a Cape of Storms becomes, in hindsight, your Cape of Good Hope.

Jeremiah understood this. Standing in the ruins of Jerusalem, he held on to one truth: “Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed.” (Lamentations 3:22)  They had been beaten, broken, judged, and scattered, yet not consumed.  Why?  Because wherever God leaves life, He also leaves hope.  These are the markers along the journey of grace, the storms you survived not by strength, but by the mercy of God.

Be encouraged,
Mathews