What Graduation Means

Mark Shaw |

VOH-51-Th[1]     Every three months, Vision of Hope celebrates the work God is doing in a graduation ceremony. On May 9, 2014, a significant event occurred: the first young lady to enter the program under my directorship graduated. It was a special time of reflection for me and she will always be the first graduate under my care from start to finish. I’m thankful to the Lord for His transformational work in her life.

So what does graduation really mean?

Yesterday, I was reading the names of all of the Vision of Hope graduates and I was so pleased that I have met many of them and that they are still walking with Jesus. That’s the real goal: to walk with God. Our staff and past director, Jocelyn Wallace, have poured themselves into these young ladies’ lives and it shows!

Our graduates will tell you that they are far from perfect. They will be humble and admit that they still have struggles in their own hearts with temptations to sin yet they rely upon Jesus and discovered how to more deeply cling to Him throughout life’s obstacles! In other words, they have learned how to walk with God in a more intimate way. For that, we are thankful because that’s what graduation means!

We look forward to having more graduates who walk with Christ in the very near future…

-Pastor Mark Shaw (rejoicing in the Lord’s work in the hearts of young women who are surrendered to Him)

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Mark Shaw
Mark Shaw has 22 years of counseling experience working in a variety of settings including faith-based residential programs, dealing with issues surrounding “addictions” of all types, and supervising staff positions. His experience in the biblical counseling field began in 2001. He has written 14 published works including The Heart of Addiction; Relapse: Biblical Prevention Strategies; Divine Intervention: Hope and Help for Families of Addicts; Addiction-Proof Parenting; and Hope and Help for Self-Injurers/Cutters. He also co-authored a chapter in Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling (2013).