Several years back, a Sunday School teacher of mine encouraged us to all pray and ask God for a word to define the upcoming new year. I have loved that little tradition and have had such words as flexible, purposeful, hospitality, etc. A few weeks ago, I was reminded of this and began to pray about what my word would be for 2016....
Before I go into that and share this year's word with you, I want to be open and let you know where I have been the past year spiritually. And let me tell you...it has not been pretty. Although we saw so many great and wonderful things in our lives this past year - spiritually speaking it was a difficult year for me. I struggled with my prayer life, I struggled with my quiet time, I struggled with feeling and experiencing God speaking to me. It was rough. I longed for a friend to come along and encourage me or inspire me...but soon realized that was NOT what I needed. What I needed, was to crawl up into the arms of my Saviour and let HIM speak to me, encourage me, fill me, inspire me and love on me right where I was. The past few weeks - I have done just that, I still have a long way to go and lots of time to spend with Him but He IS working on me, He IS loving me and I am excited to grow closer to Him in the coming year!
Alright - so back to THIS year and the word that He has placed on my heart. Not long ago I was watching Jennifer Rothchild on Periscope (If you haven't heard her or read her stuff DO IT! She's awesome) anyway, this particular time she and her husband were at a Dunkin Donuts and talking about this exact thing...a word for the new year. She asked us to comment what our word for the new year was and before I could think twice about it - this year's word was typed and posted and I am ecstatic about it.....
MISSIONAL
This is my word for 2016! I want to live a MISSIONAL life. For this coming year I want all I to do to reflect an attitude of missions for the Kingdom purpose. Joel and I have taught children and youth countless times that we are ALL missionaries no matter where we live, what our job is or what church we attend. However, even with teaching that, I haven't really focused on LIVING a missional life. Recently Joel was sharing with me a blog post that he had read where this writer would purposely go to the grocery store at the same time, to the same register and have the same clerk for the purpose of developing a relationship with them to open the door to sharing the Gospel. The same was true with a waitress at a restaurant - he would go to the same restaurant, same time each week, and ask for the same waitress for the purpose of opening the door to share the Gospel.
I witnessed something similar yesterday as Joel and I had the opportunity to meet a wonderful friend and mentor for a two-hour lunch. He knew the staff, had developed a relationship with them, and was able to minister to them in a personal way. I was amazed and inspired!
As I sat through lunch yesterday, God re-affirmed that MISSIONAL was my word for 2016! I need to work hard on having more than just a surface level relationship with people. To take the time, get to know them and their families. To reach out to them and be bold in proclaiming the Gospel message. I sincerely believe that throughout this coming year, God is going to grow and stretch me in this area of being missional. I am excited and yet also nervous to see what opportunities are tossed my way this coming year. I know that in living out this intentional missional life my family will be stretched probably more than we have in many,many years. We will be called to step out of what is comfortable and to be willing to act in faith.
What is God showing YOU for the coming year? What word would He have you focus on? If you were to live a MISSIONAL LIFE what would it look like? I would love to hear your thoughts and insights!
Happy 2016 friends and family!!!
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