By Jonathan Ho

Dear Readers,

As I write this, I am taking a couple of graduate level courses, working full-time, expecting my first child, and planning to move to a new place this week. I have a lot going on with these, in addition to the relationships God has already blessed me with, and trying to care for others, while holding Christ first and foremost in my life. Life is full of blessing, but also struggle.

Have you ever felt this way? In a time of information overload and with the ability to be more godlike than in any other time in history, we still struggle.

We see struggles in Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, struggles of God’s people with God and among one another. We often want to avoid struggles, but at the same time, through these struggles, the revelation of God shines forth. We find comfort in the Psalms, where David and others pour out their hearts before God in their struggles, and we find instruction in the letters from Paul when difficulties and struggles required wisdom and clarity. Our prayer is that God would use these struggles described within these pages to shine forth His truth and light.

In this edition, our writers share struggles from their own lives. Scott wrestles with loving Christians who are gay; Jonathan writes of the struggle of loving and welcoming those who do not fit our molds or expectations; and three anonymous writers share struggles within church and cultural expectations, of loving those close to us who hurt others, feeling dead inside, and of broken relationships. None of these articles are all-encompassing, but meant to share a glimpse into what some believers are wrestling with.

These may not be comfortable articles to read and we may be tempted to tune out these struggles, but these articles represent true struggles in your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. As you begin reading these articles, we ask you to suspend judgment, ask God to give you ears to hear, and then listen. I’m not asking you to agree with everything you read here, but to listen. The fact that most of our writers asked to be anonymous shows that there is an edge to what they are sharing, something difficult that requires wisdom and care to wrestle with in community.

This edition does not offer answers, but it offers you more to wrestle with, more to struggle with. Each article comes with a set of questions to reflect on both by yourself and in your community.

May our Heavenly Father move by His Spirit to quicken our hearts to what He is calling us to in the times to come. May we have ears to hear, and eyes to see where our Father is moving, that we may join Him there. May Christ reign and break any false powers in our lives, and may we rejoice, knowing that we are secure in God’s hand.

“Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary” (Galatians 6:9, NASB).

Jonathan

P.S. This edition is meant only to be an entryway into deeper discussion. Do you have struggles you’d like to discuss more, or become more involved in what we’re doing? Or do you have additional thoughts, suggestions, or comments you want to share with us? Email us at hello@projectarctos.com.