Pursuing One Mission: Tell of his wonderful deeds

Wednesday nights at the hotel, we meet and study the Bible. One of our friends, Mat, just became a believer-- so exciting to see not just him, but also his wife and the couple of others that join, really hungry for God's word! Anyway, a few weeks ago, one night when I was with them, we studied Psalm 73, how easy it is to be jealous of others, and how we must trust God. In the end, the writer, Asaph, recognizes that the Lord is much more valuable than anything alluring the world might offer, and he commits to stay near to the Lord and tell everyone about the wonderful things God has done. Mat and his family and I closed by talking about some of the wonderful things God had done in our lives lately and praising God for them. Sharing of his wonderful deeds is my motivation for blogging tonight.

These last few weeks have been a beautiful picture of God's provision and how He so deeply knows us and meets us where we are.

In what tends to be a slower month in Mobilization (December), God continued to move new missionaries forward in the process! So exciting to see God moving people to serve him in missions and to see their urgency to move forward-- whether it was Christmas season or not! Praise God-- within just 7 days of being back in the office this week, we will have had 5 applicants complete their panel interviews to be new missionaries (two couples and one single). It's so exciting to see God move in big ways that only he can take credit for!!!

After a busy December (actually, busy year), it was such a huge blessing to take some vacation days! God provided for me to go visit a dear sister-friend from IU, who moved to Texas. The time away was a great start to break, and helped me disconnect. One of the things I'm most thankful for during this visit was the chance to just visit with Em and process some things the Lord has been doing. What a blessing to have un-rushed time to goof off, dig into the Word, encourage each other and see some of her community.

This was followed by more great time with family, friends and supporters in Indiana. I spent a few days in Bloomington where we celebrated baby Hazel's first Christmas and my birthday and I caught up with some more great friends.

So thankful for what God must have planned for this year. Let's tell of his wonderful deeds and trust him together.

Would you pray over these things as God brings them to mind?

* For a renewed and softened heart
* Deeper relationship with the Lord
* God to speak during the retreat we are co-facilitating for potential new church-planting missionaries this Friday and Saturday (Jan. 13-14).
* Our upcoming OneWeekend retreat February 10-12.

My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,

but God remains the strength of my heart;

he is mine forever.

²⁷ Those who desert him will perish,

for you destroy those who abandon you.

²⁸ But as for me, how good it is to be near God!

I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter,

and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.

Ps. 73:26-28