New Hope Methodist Church

05/31/2026

05/15/2026

Have you ever stepped outside on a clear, crisp, brilliantly sunny winter day to enjoy a walk? As you stride forward and take the first deep breaths of outdoor air, your eyes are lifted upwards as your body moves into a walking rhythm. All of a sudden, your feet are no longer where you placed them and you are down on the frozen ground with pain richocheting around your body and your gaze now ruefully examining the hidden patch of ice that your feet unerringly found. The day turns cloudy, the cold deepens, and you huddle down inside your sweater with a scowl as you contemplate how to get back up again. You slipped. Your day is completely changed. Your life may have just completely changed. What happened?

Slipping on ice feels very much like slipping up on your daily conversations with God. Once habits are broken by casually allowing other activities to start gnawing away at your time with the Lord, your feet start down a path riddled with hidden patches of black ice. The ice that is invisible until you slip, and then, it is too late.

One morning, you hit the snooze button on your alarm and sleep right through your morning Bible study. No big deal, you think, I'll do it this afternoon. Your schedule does not rise to the occasion and the afternoon flies by. Then, it is night and you are so tired from all the other activities that you mumble some night prayers, apologize to the Lord for missing your morning chat, and fall into bed. One day can't really hurt, can it?

The next day, you stride out into your daily schedule like the winter walk, full of confidence in your own organization, planning, and dedication. Rather than getting up early, I'll just make more time for the Lord later in the day when I am more fully awake and can be more focused you think. Again, life steps in and gradually, your prayer routine falls in to a chasm. No problem, you think. As soon as life calms down and I am more organized, I will re-carve out time for the Lord. Until then, I'll just pray on the fly as different situations arise around me. Sound good Lord? I thought this up myself. Let's do this.

Each day, you stride forth into the winter beauty, congratulating yourself on your most excellent time management skills and wondering if perhaps you were spending too much time in prayer before. Life can be lived just as easily, and more quickly, by praying when you need the Lord, rather than sitting at His feet day after day, the back of your mind wondering how many times you need to read the same Gospel stories. As suddenly as a slip on black ice occurs, your life begins to tumble down around you and you find yourself without the spiritual wherewithal to think of a thing to do. In fact, in this time of crisis, your first reaction is to rely on your own understanding and resources.

The distance that has grown between you and the Lord has created selective deafness to His whisperings as the stress of new challenges leaves you in a crumpled heap on the ice. As the internal panic begins to subside, a gentle voice permeates the storm in your mind and body; "Return to me, and I will return to you" (Malachi 3:7). With perfect clarity, you hear and reflect, realizing how a small change in your relationship led you to an abyss of fear, chaos, and pain on the ice of life. With a soft smile, He reaches down to help you up and leads you along the path with a strong and sturdy arm to lean on. How could you have let go of this relationship, the relationship that makes all other activities in life pale in comparison? Turn back your heart and He will find you. Turn back your heart and He will speak to you. Turn back your gaze and He will lead you. All it takes is a choice.

"...For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him" (2 Chronicles 30:9).

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Need help getting up off the ice? Join New Hope Methodist Church this Sunday at 10am at Lake Guntersville for a service on the river. (1901 Sunset Drive, Guntersville)

05/14/2026

WHAT? SERVICE AT THE RIVER

WHERE? Sunset Park, Guntersville.

Time? Approximately 10 a.m.

Are you looking for a church but feel anxious about taking that first step into a closed building?? We have you covered!! Let’s worship together this Sunday, May 17th, in the beauty of God’s creation. Some of us will leave the church (5351 Main Dr., New Hope), at 9 a.m. Otherwise, you can plug 1901 Sunset Drive into your phone or car map app, and worship will be across the road on the water’s edge. There will be singing, prayer, worship, baptisms and a potluck lunch. So please, don’t let the devil keep you anxious and away from church.

Let’s Worship Together!!

Love in Christ,

Pastor Michael

05/01/2026

Get those diapers together! It's Diaper Swapping time again. This Sunday 9 - 9:45 a.m. Please let us know if you would like prayer, and you're welcome to attend worship at 10.

05/01/2026

YARD SALE Sat. 7a.m. - 11 a.m.
All sorts of stuff:
Good, Bad and Ugly

04/26/2026

What are you afraid of? Does this fear bother you? Is it a fear that you actively attempt to dismantle or do you keep snug in a tidy box and only confront it when the box springs open unexpectedly? An oft-quoted statistic is that "fear not" appears in the Bible 365 times. Well, there you have your next Bible Study plan. Repeat the different phrases related to fear once a day for the next year. That was easy.

In reality, we are specifically instructed by Jesus to let go of fear around 20 times in the gospels. Apparently, He was serious. He also instructs us on whom to fear: "and fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). Ouch. How does your fear list compare?

As devastating as losing a child or spouse, going bankrupt, getting fired from a job, or developing cancer, God lifts our gaze downwards from our own hearts and bodies and upwards towards our forever home in heaven to remind us the cost of trying to go through life without Him and act according to our will rather than His. A broken heart in this life is truly terrible to experience but a broken soul throughout all eternity is a much more terrifying prospect because God mends a broken heart but a lost soul is simply lost...forever.

Do you know that feeling of sheer utter aloneness and darkness when you experience true loss? Our human bodies and minds cannot even grasp what is happening to us in these moments, but what we can grasp onto is God. Grasping onto Him does not bring instant relief from pain and darkness, but when we are ready, He brings comfort that we are never alone in the dark even if our feelings of desperation and misery persist. Turning away from God at these times gives an excellent preview of what to expect if you take that path as far as it goes: eternal darkness without a whisper of comfort.

So let's revisit that fear list. Perhaps you are in a situation where you do fear for your bodily or mental safety. Pray and turn to God and His promises:

"He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways" (Psalm 91:11) or "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him" (Psalm 34:7).

Perhaps a loved one has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Pray and turn to God and His promises:

"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die" (John 11:25-26).

Perhaps you just found out that a longed for pregnancy will most likely end in the death of the baby. Pray and turn to God and His promises:

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away" (Revelation 21:4).

Fear is real. Fear is debilitating. Fear is paralyzing. We were not made to live in fear. "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18).

Take your list of fears and pray this verse over each fear, asking the Holy Spirit to show you how God's perfect love, the love that Jesus showed when he entered into the supreme darkness of torment and death on the Cross, will slowly and surely turn your fear into peace. Dark night of the soul? God promises:

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning" (Psalm 30:5).

Imagine a time when you feel no fear, no heartbreak, no darkness, no grief. You have just found Heaven. All it takes is a journey with God through life, allowing Him to teach, mold, and shape you into the best version of yourself. Definitely worth the loss of selfishness, ego, pride, and anger, don't you think?

Ready to let go of fear, of desperation, of loss, of grief? Come as you are and find the relief that God offers to all. New Hope Methodist Church Sunday Worship at 10am.

JPN