Happy new year to all. As I reflect on 2014, I would have to say the first thought or word that comes to my head is struggle. It was a difficult year. Difficult in the ministry, personally, spiritually, difficult in all facets of life. Yet at the same time it was also such a sweet year. It was a year where the Lord stretched and stretched but did not break us. We experienced His grace like we have never before. It was such an intimate time of fellowship with Jesus. I learned things of Him, that I would never have known had it not been the year we went through. I learned things of myself, that I had not known and even had blocked out because it was too painful to deal with. I would never want to go back through the year we just went through, but at the same time I would not trade it for anything. If 2014 was what God allowed us to go through to mold us and mature us. It was so worth it. We saw, like I said, His sustaining grace like never before. I can not wait to see what Jesus does this year!
Upon returning from our two and half month furlough, we hit the ground running. We had two choclotadas and running around getting things back in order with our house and seeing people and I preached a midweek service and our Christmas message. It was so refreshing to be strengthened by the Lord to continue in what He has called us to do. We missed Peru and the ministry so much. It was great to see the growth of the church and the people. Everyone who stepped up did an amazing job. It just confirmed in my heart that the Lord doesn't need me. It is His church and His ministry and we just to get to be part of it.
There were a few issues that I was not looking forward to when we arrived back. There was one particular burden that over 2014 had been taking so much energy and was such a constant draining of myself. During our time in the States, I remember just asking the Lord to deal with the issue. Once again the Lord has shown Himself in wonderful ways. Several days ago this one issue that had plagued me, the Lord removed. I don't even have to start this new year dealing with this or worrying about it or trying to handle this. The Lord is His infinite grace handled it for me. I am so encouraged and refreshed. I can't begin to describe the freedom that Christ has given me to start this new year. That is not to say, that this year will be trial free. That is not to say that the Lord will remove every hardship, burden or obstacle off the course. In fact I think that this year could be just as hard if not harder than last year. If it is, I can look back and see how the Lord delivered us through 2014 and have no doubt that He will sustain us for 2015. But it sure is a good way to kick off 2015.
I am excited to see what the Lord does this year in us and through us. I am excited to see what the Lord does through all His people and throughout the world. A friend of mine on Instagram encouraged me to keep making Jesus famous in Peru. I thought, "wow, what a call! What a privilege!" But you know what? That is everyone's calling who is in Christ. We are to tell the world about Jesus. Not only missionaries and pastors are to glorify Jesus. Whoever takes the name of Christ is to be His witness. To testify of His works, His love, His grace, His mercy, His justice, His wrath, everything about Him. People need to know about how great our Jesus is. We are in tumultuous times and the answer to the world's problems is Christ. Let's make Jesus famous in our lives in 2015.
Soli Deo Gloria
No comments:
Post a Comment