2016 has arrived! This is a new year filled with possibilities.
After four and half years of what I believe can be defined as wilderness season, I finally feel released this year to pursue the God-given dreams and desires that have been buried deep in my heart.
I buried the dreams God gave me because I did not like my circumstances. My oldest son was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to prison. This was not part of my dream and this is not what I envisioned for my son when he grew up.
When my son was sent to prison, I no longer wanted to pursue the passions the Lord instilled in my heart—to encourage others in the Word through teaching and speaking. I fell for the lie – who am I to encourage others when I’m the mother of a convicted felon?
I was wrong to believe the lie and bury the desires God gave me. I ran from God just like Jonah. But by God’s grace, He never gave up on me and continued to woo me into His presence and calling. Over the last four and half years, the Lord set up circumstances for me to teach small group studies. The Lord also placed people in my life who encouraged me to write for their ministry, such as Dewey Moede and FGGAM. So I never completely quit, I just haven’t fully participated.
But in the wilderness season, I grew closer to the Lord. As a result of growing closer to Him there were things in my life that were purged. Pride. Unrighteousness. Anger. Selfishness. Envy. Jealousy. Strife. Bitterness. Unforgiveness. To name a few things.
As a result of this purging, healing came. Healing in my mind, body, and spirit. Now I want to be clear with you, I have not fully arrived, as we are always in the process of being perfected. Perfection for each of us will come only when Christ returns or we go to Him. But in the meantime, I’ve been through a season of sanctification and I now feel liberated.
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14 NKJV).
I cannot predict the future, but I know the God who knows my future. Therefore, I press on in the calling God has for me. That is —
to encourage His body with the written and spoken word
Therefore, for 2016 I picked up a challenge with other writers to write everyday for this year (#write365). Some of what I write will be posted here on FGGAM, some on my blog, some on other ministry websites, and some just for me to reflect on.
I do have books in me that are begging to be released into a Word document. Those need to be written and see how those messages begin to form. Then perhaps, book proposals and pitches to editors and/or publishers will come this year.
But today, this first day of 2016, I begin the challenge to write consistently. As I do, I pray for each of you who read this post. If you have let go of or run from a God-given dream or desire, I encourage you to continue to press into our Lord. He will lead you through and out of the wilderness. And I know that when you emerge from a wilderness experience with our Lord, you will feel liberated. Press on in Christ.
