OUR STORY
But as the journey continued, I began to feel God pulling the mission in a deeper direction.
My faith in Jesus has been an essential part of my own mental health journey. It has also carried me through some of the hardest seasons of loving and parenting a child who struggles with mental health. I have learned—often imperfectly—what it means to pray when I do not have answers, to keep loving when I cannot fix the problem, to trust God when I am afraid, and to surrender the people I love most into His hands.
And that surrender is still something I am learning every day.
Through my own experiences, I began to see a need for something that brought faith and mental health together with honesty, compassion, and practical support. I felt God leading me to create a mission that did not shy away from the messy parts of life—a place where people could acknowledge anxiety, depression, parenting struggles, grief, illness, fear, exhaustion, and emotional pain while still holding tightly to the hope we have in Jesus.
Hope 40:31 exists to build a compassionate, Christ-centered community that fosters belonging, resilience, and hope through the love of Jesus—meeting people where they are, helping carry the hard things, and reminding them that they never have to walk alone.
This is more than a name change. It is the next chapter of a mission God has been shaping through real life, real struggle, real surrender, and real hope.
Hope for the weary.
Help for the hurting.
Faith for the hard places.
Jesus in the middle of it all.
Hope 40:31 began with a simple desire: to help people feel less alone.
In 2022, our journey started as I’m Still Me, a nonprofit charity created to raise awareness about mental health and support those affected by it. The mission was deeply personal. Mental health struggles had touched my own life, my daughter’s life, and the lives of many friends and family members I love. I saw firsthand how isolating these struggles could be—not only for the person hurting, but also for the parents, caregivers, spouses, and loved ones trying desperately to help.
We wanted to do something that made a difference.
Over the next several years, I’m Still Me hosted three beach volleyball tournaments to raise awareness and funds for mental health support in our local community. Proceeds were donated to the Buckeye Valley Middle School and High School counseling departments, helping support students and the professionals walking alongside them, and later to Buckeye Valley LifeWise, supporting faith-based outreach and encouragement for local students.
From that calling, Hope 40:31 was born.
Inspired by Isaiah 40:31—“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength”—Hope 40:31 is a Christ-centered nonprofit created to bring practical help, compassionate support, and the hope of Jesus into the hard and messy places of life.
Our vision is growing. We want to help churches become more mental health-friendly, creating communities where people feel safe talking honestly about their struggles without shame or judgment. We hope to provide resources and encouragement for individuals struggling with mental health and for the parents, families, and caregivers walking beside them. We want to help provide financial assistance for therapy and mental health care when possible, support individuals and families facing overwhelming life circumstances through fundraisers and acts of generosity, and provide scholarships for those called to serve through mission trips.
At the heart of Hope 40:31 is a simple belief:
People need to know they are seen.
People need to know they are loved.
People need practical help in hard seasons.
And people need hope.
We are not here to pretend that faith makes every struggle disappear. We believe Jesus meets us right in the middle of the messy, painful, uncertain, and unfinished places. We believe mental health struggles should not be hidden in shame. We believe parents and caregivers need support too. We believe churches can become safer places for honest conversations about mental health. And we believe that sometimes sharing the love of Jesus looks like prayer—and sometimes it looks like helping pay for therapy, providing a meal, supporting a family in crisis, offering a resource, funding a mission opportunity, or simply sitting beside someone in their pain.
