Happy New Year 2020

Happy new year and new decade to you, and we hope that you have an overflow of blessings in the coming days.

The year has been quite a crazy one, for all of us, I’m sure. It’s had it’s ups and downs, joys and sorrows. We made new friends and we lost some. Some of us wrote exams, some switched jobs and some got married and had kids.

Some of us got closer to God – we grew in our walk with Jesus, while some (actually, all) of us stumbled…a lot.

A lot has happened this past year, and through it all, there have been lessons to learn.

We sure have learnt a lot this year, and here’s some of what we hope you and I will carry into 2020.

1. You are going to fail.

You don’t see it now but you’re going to want these failures you’re desperately trying to avoid. It’s necessary that you fall flat on your face because that’s where the growth happens. That’s where you actually learn something.

2. It is completely normal to feel a disconnect with God and it’s not a reason to run farther from him.

A disconnect with God is an invitation to come closer and ask bolder questions. 

3. There are going to be some days where you make no progress at all.

And then there are going to be days where big internal shifts happen and you might not even notice if you don’t stop to take inventory every once in a while and look back. 

Did you get stronger last year? Did you try harder? Did you show up for people? Did you become braver?

Even if these things didn’t make the checklist that defined success in 365 days for you, they matter. 

They were and are a part of your becoming. Don’t discount them because you could not document them or because they weren’t what you had in mind.

4. God is going to use the craziest circumstances to grow you up.

Some months will break your heart. Others will put you back together. And some months will just be dust settling and you’ll be disappointed that you didn’t become all you planned to be. I hope today you’re encouraged to know: not all of our plans matter as much as we think they do. Sometimes (read as: most of the time) God has a bigger plan for us. Don’t lose heart. Trust the process. 

5. You will never find your purpose in seeking to please everyone.

If you try, you will crumble at the altar of trying to make others love you.

6. You cannot wish the best for others but believe you deserve nothing at all.

We’ve learned you cannot truly love people at full capacity if you hate yourself. We’ve learned you cannot hate your way into love. It doesn’t work that way.

Apply grace and love where fear and scarcity want to take up space. Again, the words can feel foreign but it does not mean you cannot learn the language and finally approach yourself with some kindness. 

7. Sometimes God is shielding us from stuff we can’t even imagine.

Sometimes a “no” isn’t a no to your plans, it’s a no to the things you don’t even know are happening beneath the surface. This isn’t punishment, it’s protection. 

8. Throughout this year and especially in this Christmas season we are reminded that the entire Gospel is summed in three words. Come and see.

That’s the whole point of this story. That’s what God was inviting everyone, no matter their circumstances or standing in society, into. He wanted everyone- the young and the old, the lost and forgotten, the excluded and the pagan- to come and see what he was doing. The new story unfolding. The new hope for the world.

But as we close this season and year and we enter the new decade, we want  to go out singing with three new words. A great commission that came straight off the lips of Jesus:  Go and tell. 

We don’t have a guidebook for how to do that but what we’ve learned is this : Just share your story.

You can tell people the good in your life. You can retell the miracles without stuffing down a message down someone’s throat. People are always looking for something. They are always hunting. And if you’ve found your fill in Jesus then why not just say it like that? Why not just tell someone whenever you get the next chance : hey, I found something that really changed my life. I can’t speak for you story but I can tell you mine,

If God has been real in your life then just say that.

Share your truth. 

No frills necessary.

Just share your truth

Just tell them what you’ve found.

And let God cover the rest. 

Blessed New Year everyone . Can’t wait to see all that God has in store for us this new decade.