The Blessing of a New Year

Spending this holiday season so far from the friends and family that I have known has brought a mix of emotions, but over all I have been blessed to be here in the will of God. The people here have welcomed me and accepted me with the love of God as a sister in Christ.

While I miss the things that are familiar, I so appreciate these new things in this place of surrender and devotion alongside so many like-minded ones who love and follow Jesus and inspire me to seek greater measure of Him and His Kingdom. I have been so privileged to join in ministry as a vessel through which Holy Spirit can move in the lives of people Jesus died and rose for.

Some testimonies from my time so far: I got to share what Jesus has done in my life with a young man in a tea shop; to pray with a shopkeeper who traveled from India to sell crafts and who God touched with His love; to pray, warring in the Spirit at a Buddhist temple; and to love on so many children and families just by entering their space and allowing the light of Christ to shine.

My own personal testimonies of God moving on my behalf are more than I can number already on this journey. He has kept my body in health, opened doors, spoken guidance at times I needed it, provided for each need, and so much more. None of this, the works, the testimonies, the fruits, have much at all to do with me besides getting to watch. These are all testaments of the faithfulness of God. He cannot fail, because God is love and love never fails. 1 John 4:8, 1 Corinthians 13:8

As I reflect on this past year, I am so grateful for the changes that the Holy Spirit has wrought in me; and for the beginning of hopes, dreams, visions, and words being fulfilled. I recognize now how 2024 had so much loss in the way of family members dying. This seemed to open some deep caverns in my heart that gave the Lord access to really change me from the inside over 2025. I still don’t believe that these deaths were in the Lord’s will, my family members were robbed. But I love that God took the depth of it all and used it for good, that His love would be worked into my soul.

As we spent time in worship New Year’s Eve, someone shared a word that God is inviting us to a new place of wonder. I looked up the definition and it is “a feeling of amazement and admiration caused by something beautiful, remarkable, or unfamiliar.” As I thought on “unfamiliar” I was reminded of the angels described in Revelation who never stop praising the Lord. As our Father and our Friend, He makes Himself familiar. He is also the Great I Am, so much greater in magnitude than we can comprehend. His glory, wonder, and majesty will never cease to amaze us as we look at Him.

This year may we be drawn by the Holy Spirit to a place of gazing intently at our God. In this place may we be changed more and more into His image. My testimony for 2025 is that I ended it a different person from who I was when it started. I pray that I have the same testimony next year as I run this race with patience (Hebrews 12:1), and continue to press forward to the mark of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:14).

This morning, after a night spent praying into the new year, I woke up with such joy and hope in the Lord. I am so grateful for His work in me, as I have been seeking Him for both of these. I pray that He continues this work from the inside out, and that it lasts eternally as I walk with The Lover of my soul.

Pouring myself out to the Lord and to the people here in Nepal has been such a blessing to me. Truly I have found so much life as I have made steps and efforts to give mine away. I trust that God will reward this with more fruit in the time to come. I trust His Word:

Mark 16:17-18
And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.

With gratitude for what I have been given, I ask for more. More souls saved, more bodies healed, more hearts and minds changed by encounter with the Holy Spirit, and more outpouring of the love of God.

As for my plans, I am currently planning to be here in Nepal until maybe April. In February I will begin a training school here for missions work that will help me to prepare for the next steps forward in the callings that the Lord has put in my heart. As always, I am so grateful every day for the prayers and encouragement I have received from so many of you. God is so good and faithful.

In the name of Jesus I pray blessing and peace for you and your family. I pray that Holy Spirit would enter the space of your heart, mind, and home. I pray you come to know more fully the love of God and who you are in Him. I pray that you find Jesus worthy to lose your life for and find it in Him.