My Prayer for 2018

I love looking back on a year and reflecting on it and praying for the next year.

2017 has been a memorable year getting to be a married wife to such a sweet, caring, wise, and godly guy! It’s been a year of many blessings as well as challenges. It’s been a year where my Lord has been teaching me to let go of my fears and to trust Him for so many things.

If I were to sum up this past year, I would say it was:

•           Defined by lessons of TRUST
•       Marked by God’s work in His perfect TIMING and His PROVISONS
•       Evidences of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness

The Lord has provided grace to trust Him during the unknowns and fearful and challenging times. And He has proven faithful as I look back and see His hand and see how He has taught me to trust in Him and learn more of His character. He has taught me to rejoice in His goodness and His bountiful blessings from this year! I wanted to grow in trust in my Lord, and He sure did bring so many different opportunities to deepen my faith in Him.

Specifically, this past year God taught me:

• to trust Him in His perfect timings: to pass the NBCOT after failing the first time, to get a much-needed job and one that provided the mentorship that I needed, to rely on Him for safety and provisions, and to trust His timings and provisions for all of Miguel’s paperwork to go through.
• to rejoice in His blessings and good gifts: the gift of marriage and of a loving, caring, godly, joyful husband; the gift of loving and loyal friends, family, mentors, and husband to encourage me during hard times;
• to thank Him for the lessons and challenges and times that He used to refine me and open my eyes to see His grace through it all.
• to realize that my identity lies in CHRIST and not in what people think of me, how I performed on the NBCOT exam, or how many responses I get to job applications, or my performance at work, etc.
• to learn to bloom where I’m planted instead of wish to move to other work environments due to inconveniences but to instead seek to joyfully and willingly serve Him wherever He places me.

My prayer for this coming year would be that I would continue to keep my eyes and focused on my King.

"But be sure to fear the LORD and serve Him faithfully with all your heart and consider what great things He has done for you.” – 1 Sam 12:24

And my one/two-word prayer/theme for 2018 is: Serve and Seek. 

I want to develop a servant's heart that patterns after Jesus as I truly seek first GOD'S Kingdom. I want to seek first His Kingdom by learning to faithfully serve Him, by letting Him develop in me a servant's heart filled with His love as I walk by His Spirit to let His love overflow to my sweet husband, my family, my friends, and those around me no matter where I am/work/minister. I pray that I would above all glorify God first and foremost, and second, I pray that I would learn to seek to meet the needs of others around me instead of selfishly focusing on my wants/wishes/desires.

I do not know what this next year will hold, but with this pray in mind, I desire:

- to cling tight to my Heavenly Father and learn to grow more in His image.

- to grow into a wife that glorifies Him as I seek to love and serve my husband and continue to grow as a couple and honor Him together.

- to grow in my understanding of God’s Word and learn to share it/disciple others.

- to learn develop more of a servant’s heart and focus more on the needs of others vs. my wants and desires.
- to trust the Lord to provide for our needs (health, finances, wisdom) and prepare us to Lord-willing be a parent of a precious little one sometime soon. I want to seek first His Kingdom and let Him meet our needs as He sees fit.
- to trust God in the valleys and praise Him in the mountaintops.

" The only thing I want in life is to be known for loving Christ to build His church /  To love His bride / And make His name known far and wide" - Kari Jobe

   

     "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” – Matt 6:33