Thank God, leadership institute, and LUMINA

To the Editor:

As we head into the season of Thanksgiving, we hope that many will spend time reflecting on the goodness of God, in spite of our current circumstances politically. If we continually dwell on the negatives of these times, we simply fall further into depression and poverty, of spirit, body and mind, and we really can’t afford to fall any further! To counter this, then, we must focus on the positives, be grateful for our blessings and marvel in God’s goodness, because God is good… ALL THE TIME!

My hope is that this story will prompt a ripple effect toward thankfulness, no matter what the election and our futures hold, because… ALL THE TIME, God is still good!

A few years ago, I didn’t know that I would take a job at LUMINA Center, but God did. In January 2024, I didn’t know that within a year of starting at LUMINA, I would be asked to consider the position of Executive Director, but God did. I didn’t even know that Juniata River Valley Leadership Institute existed, but God did; nor did I know that the Vice Chair of the LUMINA board had previously attended Leadership Institute, but God did. As I accepted the executive director position, we didn’t know if I should attend the Leadership Institute right off the top, for many reasons, but God knew. We didn’t know if we could really afford it, running on the tight budget that we have, but God provided. We didn’t know just how beneficial it would be, my involvement in the Leadership Institute, but God did!

I am only two months into the leadership program, and this is what I’ve experienced already: God’s provision from the top was a full scholarship. Praise the Lord!! Our first session, meet and greet, was an exciting time of connecting with other community members who had either attended the program in prior years or were now my classmates and soon-to-be community-focused colleagues.

Our first full day of learning was “History-Our Heritage,” and boy, was that a day chock-full of information! I didn’t know I needed to meet and connect with a couple community friends that day, but God did! There was a fantastic tour of downtown Lewistown with someone who has a great passion for revitalizing our downtown area and keeping Lewistown a thriving hub of activity. I didn’t know how connected he was to many of the businesses downtown, but God did! And when, right on the heels of that class, after having ongoing internet connection issues, we experienced a complete disconnect to the internet, and a struggle in reaching our current provider. My new contact told me about a business and after one call and a couple emails, it resulted in a couple guys showing up, and within 24 hours, we had smooth running internet and no issues since. Praise the Lord!

Also that day, I made another connection with a fellow student that would result in the provision of a significant food source partnership that would benefit many families in our community and would cost us nothing beyond pickup. I didn’t know this would happen, but God did!!

And friends, this is nothing short of exciting!! As a faith-based non-profit charitable organization, still trying to recover from a pandemic, we find it very challenging to provide the means of our mission to serve at-risk children and youth and their families, with due diligence, sharing the love and hope of Jesus as we do so. However, we are very much aware that as we stay in harmony with God in our mission, He is very active in this ministry, making provision each step of the way.

This is a very exciting season for LUMINA and a very much needed ministry for Mifflin County. If you are not familiar with us, or have never partnered with our ministry in any way, there are multiple ways in which you can do so, and we invite you to reach out with questions and support. We truly cannot carry out our mission without the support of our community friends.

To all involved at the Juniata River Valley Chamber of Commerce Leadership Institute, we are so grateful for who you are and everything you do for our community!!

If you know nothing about this Institute or have wondered if it really carries benefit, I assure you, it does! If you want to know about and get involved in your community, it is worth its weight in gold. I am very excited to see what happens through our community over the next couple months!!

Happy Thanksgiving friends!

Sherri Bickert

LUMINA Center Executive Director