It’s been one month since I arrived back in the Dominican Republic.  As I begin my 2nd year of “full-time ministry” here, I find myself looking backward and forward at the same time - reflecting on God’s working last year and planning for the current year.

   Last year was a year of many struggles through which I learned a lot about myself, the ministry, and God.  It was also a year full of great blessing, not the least of which was seeing several people come to Christ in the last few months!

    I’ve been trying to think of how to sum the year up.  I guess I would say that I was reminded in a million ways (little and big) that “God is God.”  Really profound, right?  But if you stop and think about it, is there a better way to describe Him and the way He works?  I could spend hours talking about His different character qualities and the way they were manifested in things He did.  The phrase "God is God" seems to sum it all up: He is God and I am not.  His ways are different than mine…much higher.  Just when I think I start to understand Him and the way He works, He surprises me both by what I read in the Scriptures and how I see Him working in life.  Sometimes the best way to describe His working is just simply by saying that God was being God.

    As I plan for 2017, I want to strive to be more conscious of this fact (that “God is God”).  What does that look like? Well, for me that means focusing on 4 main areas.

      1) Prayer: Leaving my own wisdom and methods behind and more fervently
          seeking God’s wisdom through prayer - living the reality that I can
          neither live nor minister without Him.  

      2) Time in the Word: Being reminded daily of how unfathomable God is
          through His revelation of Himself in the Bible - not by spending more
          time reading it but by spending my time reading it more wisely,
          purposing in my heart to seek His.

      3) Fasting: Setting aside days for fasting to intentionally combat my own
          pride and to keep me from forgetting my sinfulness, my frailty, my need
          for God.   

      4) Gratitude: Being more observant of God's working in everyday life and
          being more intentional about thanking Him for it.

    Why am I sharing all this?   Well, for starters I want to be transparent.  God made us to be relational and to learn from each other.  I believe transparency really aids that.  I hope that my thoughts here will encourage you to seek Him more this year also.  But also, I share this because I want you to see where I need prayer.  It’s been said that when you sit down to pray for a fellow servant of Christ, you should pray for the things you need that day.  I think if we are honest, most of us could stand to work on these areas.  These are the areas I will be praying for many of my friends and family for this year.  Please pray for me and, if you share your comments, I'd love to pray for you too.