As I look to the New Year, I sit in the attitude of
thankfulness. I have so much to be thankful for, to hope for and to be joyful
in. 2016 has been one of my most adventurous years, not staying in one place for
long as God taught me and showed me more of Him in each place. God has healed
me of trauma and fear as I took His hand and say 'yes' to Him, becoming a
missionary once again and moving to America.
This year as a Christmas gift for each missionary, my friend
and I made keys into a necklace with the word 'yes' put on them. This was to
remind each one of us about the ‘Yes’ we gave to Jesus, when we gave our lives
to Him. It was all inspired by a testimony our co-leader David Lancaster shared
with us, of a conversation he had with God on his first missions trip…‘God showed me a blank piece of paper and
said to me these simple words – ‘Will you give me your yes?’ I wondered what He
meant so I asked Him, ‘Yes to what?’. Through our conversation He asked me if I
would give Him Amy? (His wife) I said 'yes'. Would I give Him Jonathan? (His
eldest child) I said 'yes'. Would I give Him Olivia? (His middle child) I said 'yes'. Would I give Him Sarah? (His youngest) I said 'yes'. Then He showed me that
blank paper again. Will you give me your yes? I gave Him my yes. It doesn’t
matter what to, God is looking for our yes.’
As I look to 2017 I want to go deeper into my relationship
with God! There is always more and I want to learn about the more of Him. I
want to always say ‘Yes’ to Him as I step out into the deep. Even if I don't know the specifics of what I am saying 'Yes' to. I have signed the blank paper with my yes - and I have given it to Him.
Part of that 'yes' has been saying yes to more missions. I will be going on a short 5 day missions trip in February
to Pennsylvania to visit a church there that came to visit here, at We Will Go
with their youth group. I am excited to connect more with them, and to have the
opportunity to pray with them and encourage them. When I prayed about going,
God smiled and said, ‘Why wouldn’t you go?’ So I am stepping out in faith,
knowing that this will be a lovely little adventure with God. I will be there
over my birthday as well, so this will be an added bonus of celebrating while
ministering, adventuring and loving on the beautiful people of the Pennsylvania
church, alongside Amy and David Lancaster.
I have prayed big things for 2017! I love dreaming with God
knowing that He gave me these dreams. Please pray with me as we all enter this
new season together, and please know I am praying for you too!
Happy New year!