Welcome, 2014!

2014, what a pleasant sight you are! So much to be accomplished in this year, but I am not going to rush any minute because I know that time is going to fly by, just like it did in 2013. I always love end of the year reflection posts because they allow you to look back at where you have come from 365 days ago. To see where God has grown you (hopefully).  If you told me this time last year that I would be leaving my job in 2 days and leaving the country in 3 months, I think you would have had to pick my jaw up off the floor. It just was not what I had planned. BUT, when we submit to what God has in store for us, far greater things happen and the rest is history, or, the future rather....

So, I now reveal to you the 5 themes God was showing me in 2013:

1. We serve the God of restoration.  Ezekiel 37 has a great story of God restoring Israel.  He is the God who is all about restoring his people.

2. Wait it out; God hears you. There is so much Scripture about God listening to us:
-Psalm 40:1 - I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry
-Jeremiah 29:12 - Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
-2 Peter 3:9 - The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you.
-Isaiah 55:8-9 - For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

What I love about these are two things: 1) It requires action on our part, to pray and have faith, and 2) that God knows what he's doing, it's just in HIS time. [I have to laugh as I read this original note because it was from late January 2013. I was waiting for something, but had no idea what. Only a few months more and God would reveal it in a HUGE way.]

3. Clean out the bitterness. This should be obvious for so many of us, but it is not always easy. Bitterness left too long leads to anger.  Forgiveness and reconciliation are great tools to keep from becoming bitter and I believe should be used regularly in the life of a Christian.

4. Crush the idols. I know this too is an obvious one because it is one of the 10 commandments, but there is a song I love by Jimmy Needham called "Clear the Stage". One of the lyrics is "anything I put before my God is an idol, anything I want with all my heart is an idol, and anything I can't stop thinking of is an idol, anything I give all my love is an idol." Those are a lot of competitors, and remember, we serve a jealous God.

5. God is faithful. I read a lot of the Old Testament this year, and Israel had a lot of issues, much like America today. But God was so good to them! He never turned back on his promises to them, when he had every reason to! When the Israelites had finally reached the promised land after so many years,  Joshua 21:45 says "Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass." I just love that verse. Generations had died since they set out on this journey, God could have changed plans because of their parents' disobedience, they may have never known. But God is faithful.  Yesterday, today, and forever.

So that's it, 2013's lessons. I can't wait for this year; to see what God does in my friends' lives and to see what he does in Buenos Aires.