Reflect and Resolve

Can you believe it's 2012 already?  So many people are setting resolutions for the year.  Have you set yours yet?  I've not been too good at completing resolutions in the past so the past few years I haven't even bothered.  Sad, I know.  It just seems easier; that way I don't fail.

In 2011, God directed us to ReachGlobal and led us to the ministry openings in Lyon.  As we took each step through the process, we trusted God would open the right doors along the way.  We are so excited and ready to begin serving in Lyon, France with the Lyon City Team.  To get the "green light" to go, we must be 100% funded.  That means every person or family who God is stirring to do something more will join our team as financial/prayer partners.  It's so exciting to realize that the Lyon City Team will NOT consist of 4 family units but rather it WILL consist of 600-800 family units partnering together to reach the lost and hurting in Lyon!  Isn't God so cool?!

This past year has been filled with many emotions - fear, excitement, discomfort, anxiety, joy... on and on.  Emotions (mostly negative ones) often want to control our actions when we know that life is so much more than our emotions.  Philippians 4:5-7 helps to remind us to pray and praise instead:

"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life."

So, what resolutions am I setting for 2012?  Well, here's what I've come up with:

1. Worry less
2. Pray more
3. Praise God for all He provides
4. Seek God
5. Spend more time with God
6. Learn what He is trying to teach me
7. Trust Him completely
8. Move to Lyon! :)

Romans 4:4-5 hit me this morning:

"If you're a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don't call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it's something only God can do, and you trust Him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-Him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift."

Only God can bring together our partnership team!  This is a difficult lesson to realize, but is also quite encouraging.  We know we don't have the ability to do this in our own strengths.  Our ministry partners are sheer gifts that only He can provide!!!

What are your resolutions for 2012?  How is God working in and through you?  Will you pray with us specifically that God will provide all of our needs so we can begin serving in France in 2012?