Learning on the Fly

The first two weeks of this year have been a wonderful continuation of the season I have been in on this journey. Being here doing ministry has been such a privilege. I am learning so much more than I could have expected, and school hasn’t even started yet! One thing I learned recently is of the danger of getting caught up in the going and doing. Really it was a reminder and a deepening of something I had knowledge of before, but wasn’t being so mindful of. This is what I wrote about it in my journal:

January 14, 2026 This morning during worship/prayer, I felt convicted about going about my days not really asking what God’s word is for each day. I saw this statue of marble covered in hard clay, and with each beat of worship it was shaken and the clay crumbled off. I realized that throughout the day it is so easy to accumulate thoughts and feelings that cover or distract from what and who God made us to be. It is so important that I go to Him each day and ask what His word is for the day, what does He want to do or to speak? This morning it felt scary at first because I didn’t know if I had strayed far from His will in my heart. I was worried I would have to do an overhaul or backtrack what I’ve thought was right. But then I remembered that to be in the will of God is worth any of that. I remembered that whatever He calls me to do or to undo, He will be with me in it, which is unspeakably better than doing my own thing without Him.

These moments with the Holy Spirit are so special. He is so merciful in the way He deals with me. He is so faithful to correct and draw me back to center. I think of Psalms 23 at the end of verse 4, “Your rod and your staff they comfort me.” These moments of correction, whether teaching or reminding, are just like the rod and staff that a shepherd uses to guide the sheep back into his flock. He doesn’t use them for the purpose of cruelty to inflict pain on the sheep. Yes, it is uncomfortable, but the purpose is so that He can keep the sheep.

He wants to keep you. He doesn’t want you to wander away from Him, but to stay close because you have value in His eyes.

Luke 15:4-6 (NKJV) What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’

This passage speaks to the value placed on just one sheep, that the shepherd would go out to find the one that is lost. This does not devalue the ninety-nine: the way of keeping them is just different. The sheep in the flock need guidance to stay in the flock, which is a different type of effort with the same goal: to keep each one close.

So whether by nudging of correction, or chasing to find, our Great Shepherd is pursuing each and every one in His love.

After this moment with the Holy Spirit, I felt I was brought into a space in the Spirit I wasn’t aware of before. This space is specifically for the work God has prepared before me. Before I left from Texas, He gave me a clear message in a dream. It was a map of an area I had no knowledge of with a specific city name on it. When I researched it the following morning, I found the exact area with the exact name. I will keep the specifics off the internet. I have no doubts that that is a major location for my life.

I have enjoyed being here in Nepal so much, learning the culture and getting to know this Kingdom family (the people who have been called to do ministry here). I have found so much purpose here that for a moment things got a bit muddled in my heart regarding my vision and direction. I do believe that the connections and relationships being built here and now have purpose and are not all temporary, but I am grateful to remember that this is not the end goal.

In this space in the Spirit, I can see clearly the building of purpose and the shaping of what is before me in that specific location. I pray that the Holy Spirit will help me to enter that space in prayer and worship and that He will continue to give words and visions.

The school here starts in two weeks. I look forward to this time of more intense training and preparation. I am trusting for divine connections to be made, and for an outpouring of supernatural wisdom, knowledge, and strategy for the next steps.

I am so excited for the things ahead. This present place of learning and growing closer with the Lord has been so special. I know that in Him, it will only get better; even if that means harder.

No matter what it is that you or I find ourselves doing, let us remember that though our seasons may change, God never changes. His faithfulness, mercy, and love are forever. Let us continue forward with our eyes set on Jesus.

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV) Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.