Forward in 2024

Happy New Year... Almost. lol.

2023 was a year. I realized looking back that I didn't do New Years Eve post for 2023 and I didn't post in 2023 at all. I think that is an indication of the year that 2023 was for me.

God you are so good! He has been faithful, loving, gracious but it has been hard. Not because God is not good but because the change had to happen in me. At the end of 2022 God gave me my word for 2023 which was rebuilt. At the time I thought it was just my life being rebuilt. I was fresh off a divorce, learning how to be a single mom and trying to pick up the pieces of my broken and fragmented life. 

I was excited because I needed my life rebuilt. But God always gives you what you need, not what you think you want and what He actually meant was it was to be me being rebuilt; mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically. My character examined, my faith explored and expanded. Damaris transformed.

When I think of the blessings in my life this year the one that is most prominent is that I am officially a homeowner.

I knew that God promised me a house, not an apartment or condo but a house but I didn’t believe He would do it because I didn’t deserve it. If God had given me the house when I wanted, I would have had imposter syndrome and at each step of the process where a little adversity popped up, I would have given up. But who am I to tell you what I deserve? Sessions with my life coach and my pastor's sermons all helped me to understand that my mind needed to be renewed, reprogrammed, rebuilt, because I had been telling myself that my mistakes were bigger than the blessing God wants to give me and therefore, I don't deserve them. When in reality God was telling me that I deserve it all and that He wants to give it to me. My thinking, my beliefs had been blocking my blessings.

What I thought was the end of my life was really just the ending of the hopes and dreams I had when I a little girl dreaming about marriage and having a family and a home of my own. This wasn't then final act though, it was just a low point; me in the valley and I spent this last year digging deeper in the valley, doing the next best thing, and learning how to dream again. With God all things are possible and sometimes you have to speak the blessing, the miracle until it shows up, no matter how long it shows up. 

It took 10 years and many attempts in my own power to get a house but this time, was the time and it was God to show me a listing not even on the MLS, to move in the heart of the realtor to allow us to see the house outside of her normal time, to be everything I wanted; finished basement with extra space for guests, white shaker kitchen cabinets with a different color island, open concept, 3 bedrooms, a bonus room, parking for my mom, big backyard, fully fenced, a porch. Even things I didn’t know I wanted like a garage. Even steps, exactly 10 for my mom. My home is an absolute miracle that only God could have orchestrated. But what was required of me was to stop trying and start trusting God. It was one of the hardest parts of my journey this year. 

That growth, my mind, my character, my thoughts, my actions, my reactions, my feelings all being rebuilt carried through every aspect of my life; in my relationships, with my children, at work. Everything I felt intensely this year and I spent most of the year terrified because I had to relinquish control and believe that God would carry me through. For a person who had planned out her life up until the day she got married having to navigate life without a playbook was a huge test of my faith in God.

The sermons Pastor Steven preached this year spoke to me in such a deep and profound way, they spoke directly to what I was going through this year. One sermon that I really grasped was him saying it flows when it’s supposed to. Everything this year flowed when it was supposed to. There were so many moments that served as confirmation that God was going to let it flow and the Holy Spirit was with me the whole time. Telling me, "We got this".

I wish I could tell you that my faith has been fully fortified and that I'm not still terrified. I'm still digging myself out of the valley and I'm still taking the next best step but the tools I now have, and my mindset has changed. I don't know what 2024 will hold for me this year but I'm moving FORWARD expectantly.

It was on a Sunday Morning on December 10, 2023, when God told me that my word for 2024 was Forward. The two songs that the worship team sang that day was "I Trust in God" and "More than Able" and in the moment " Forward " became so clear. That we are leaving the past behind and we are moving Forward together no matter what, God and I.

My prayer for you and for me this year is, Lord help us to keep digging. Help us to always seek your face, always trust you, to keep doing the next best thing even when we don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. Your promises do not and will not return void.

The Unlikely Missionary

DHW

2022 is the Year of Free

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty.

          - 2 Corinthians 3:17

Last year's word was birth and God delivered on that word but not in the way I expected. I thoguht there was to be a new business or revenue stream, a new home, or some other tangible things birthed in this season. However God was saying, Damaris I'm going to birth a new you.

In the last quarter of this year I have seen God do an amazing work in my life. It wasn't physical, material things. I haven't moved, still living in my parents house. I don't have a new business, in fact I haven't been able to dedicate the time I wanted to the business I have. I don't have a new revenue stream either but God has kept me and my family which has been a blessing.

Instead, He birthed a new mindset, a new outlook, peace and trust in Him. He birthed a new and deeper relationship with Him. He birthed forgiveness and healing in my soul that I have never had. 

So did He birth in me? Yes! Just not in the way I expected.

As always, my church, Elevation Church has its giving weekend and asks us to think about and pray on what our anchor word is for the year. Almost immediately God gave me the word Free.

What I know without a doubt is that if He had not met me the way He did in the last 4 months I would not have been able to receive Free as my word for 2022.

He needed me learn that freedom is where the Spirit of the Lord is and the Spirit of the Lord is in me so I am Free and Freedom resides in me.

So the question is why haven't I felt free?

But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

          - Jeremiah 1:7-8

Fear. 

God over the years has placed things in my heart that I knew was for me to do and I allowed fear to hold me back and in essence, I was disobedient. I have allowed fear (because what I knew was safer) my entire life to dictate the moves I made and I wouldn't move unless I was approved. But God has approved me and He's telling me that freedom comes from obedience.

In my fear I sold myself short. Not believing I was enough to do all that God was calling me to do. But I am learning that God always equips those He calls with everything they need to complete the work. I'm feeling God say to me, like He said to Jeremiah, "You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,”.

God did not give us a spirit of fear. And while obedience without knowing the end is difficult for me, because I like to be in control, what I have been doing has not been working. I look back at old journals and see when I was walking in obedience to God when I was early in my calling. The words God gave me would just flow out of me, I was so free. I want and need that again.

In 2022, I will be doing and saying what God commands me to do and say. So many blog posts that didn't get posted to The Unlikely Missionary out of fear; All the shots I didn't take because I didn't think I was good enough; All the music I didn't record; All the podcast messages I didn't make; Fear is a thief and it no longer reigns here.

I am ready to be free and God promised He'd complete this work in me so I'm ready for this ride knowing that when I need Him, He will rescue me.

Happy New Year!

The Unlikely Missionary

Damaris

Expectation in God

 So now wrap your heart tightly around the hope that lives within us, knowing that God always keeps his promises! 

 

-Hebrews 10:23, Passion Translation

 

I was taught that expecting God to give me things or do things for me was bad. We’re told to ask God for things but, in the same breath, not expect Him to give them to us. It was in the name of piety but how backward is that? Especially because it contradicts God’s Word.

Then on the flip side, now we tell people to "Name it and claim it" but that leads to disillusioned Christians disappointed that God hasn't granted their wishes. God isn't a genie. That contradicts God's Word too.

How many of us know the scripture, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you? (Matthew 7:7-8) If this is true, which it is, doesn’t that create expectancy? Doesn’t that mean I should expect to receive something? Of course! We should ask with expectancy but what we ask, seek and open are equally as important.

There is this disconnect between the Word of God and the pulpit because there is a crucial element missing here from pulpit teaching. We should expect God to fulfill His promises to us. Hebrews 10:23 says, God keeps His promises. I put His promises in bold because it is a subtle but incredibly important distinction and an incredibly important thing for us to understand.

He doesn’t fulfill our wants and we should not expect God to just give us things. Name it and claim it is a nice slogan, but it is not biblical. That would mean that you say I want $1M and claim it in the Name of Jesus. But is that God’s desire for your life? What if He wanted to give you more? Or better still wanted to give you something you couldn’t even fathom like influence, peace, contentment, happiness, joy unspeakable? Intangibles that mean more than the physical.

We also shouldn't come to God with weak prayers either. We serve an Almighty God who create this whole galaxy with words! He can do the glorious impossible. When you come and make a request you better come with expectancy that He will do it, otherwise what are you praying for?

What we should be taught really is to ask God to make His plan’s our plans, to make His desires our desires, to make his dreams for our lives our dreams. When we do that, we can then then ask God with expectancy that those plans, desires and dreams are brought to fruition in our lives.

A person may have many ideas concerning God’s plan for his life, but only the designs of God’s purpose will succeed in the end.  

 

-Proverbs 19:21, Passion Translation

 

When we ask God to complete the work that he has started in us, the purpose He has called us to, we should expect that He will do it because the scripture says that God’s purpose will succeed in the end and He who began a good work in you (His good work) He will be faithful to complete it in you (Phillipians 1:6). His Word is true, and as such expect that He will do what He said.

However, when you ask God for a Maybach you should have no expectation that He will grant that request. What happens if getting the Maybach doesn’t happen? Does that mean God isn’t good? That He isn’t God? Absolutely not. God doesn’t have to provide anything that is not from Him. His plan will always prevail. He doesn’t deal in earthly things but kingdom things. You didn’t pray a prayer that was guaranteed.

That doesn’t mean He doesn’t provide you with earthly things. When God went to Solomon and told Solomon he could ask for anything and it would be granted, Solomon asked for wisdom (2 Chronicles 1:7-12). Solomon was on a kingdom level of thinking. And the way He asked for it, “for who on his own is capable of leading these, your glorious people? (MSG)”. Do we come before God understanding that we are not capable of fulfilling the purpose for our lives on our own? Do we even comprehend that what God has set us out to do, God is the one who gave you authority over it? (That’s another post for another day.) Solomon recognized that and asked God to help him complete his assignment. God is committed to seeing his work completed, so with that request God gave Solomon the wisdom he asked for and more riches than he could have even thought to ask for, more than any King before him or after him. Jeff Besos and Elon Musk had nothing on Solomon.

God determines what’s good. We may think something is good, but our good never even touches God’s good. God’s plans are bigger, better more spectacular than ANYTHING I could ever think or imagine for myself. Solomon asked for wisdom and God said here’s all the rest that you didn’t even ask for.

So, I pray, (and I invite you to do so also) God, make your plans my plans, your ways my ways, and fulfill it in me. God is committed to seeing his work completed in me and you. All we have to do is obey.

When you are praying that God’s will be done in your life you can NEVER be disappointed, only amazed that God thought so much of you that He sought to do great work, not good but great work, in and through your life. 

The Unlikely Missionary

Damaris