A Colorful New Year

Happy New Year everybody!  I hope you are taking time to relax after the holidays and I pray that you are looking forward to 2011 with optimism and hope. This is a time most people step back and imagine the changes they hope to make throughout the year but I want to challenge you to look at this year as a giant blank white canvas that you are going to add color to as each day passes by. (My pastor told an analogy like this at church and I liked it enough to share.) This is your life and your story you are painting, at the end of the year your canvas will be as dull or vibrant as you want it to be. This year is fresh and new, make it colorful and stand out from all the rest!

Already 2011 has been full of excitement and anticipation for me. I am taking a step of faith that will ultimately end up changing my life. How exciting! Although I am stepping into the unknown I still have expectations of what this trip will bring. Since it is 2011 I will share 11 expectations I have of this journey I am about to embark on:

1. I expect to grow and be stretched in my faith more than I could even try to comprehend right now.
2. I expect the World Race to be the hardest thing I've ever done.
3. I expect to have a better understanding of the Kingdom that is to come.
4. I expect to fall in love with people and their countries.
5. I expect to be heartbroken each time I have to leave a country.
6. I expect to see the power of God working in and through my team.
7. I expect to learn about different cultures and ways of life.
8. I expect to rely on God to make it through the year.
9. I expect God to provide and then witness his provision.
10. I expect to eat things people shouldn't eat…
11. I expect the World Race to be an adventure of a lifetime!

And since the trip is 11 months long I will share 11 things I am excited for:

1. I am excited to build relationships with team members and people we come in contact with.
2. to see the Holy Spirit work and change the lives we come in contact with.
3. to witness to others about the love of Jesus Christ.
4. to see the world.
5. to live out of a backpack for 11 months.
6. to dance in every country I go to.
7. to learn how to sing praises in many different languages.
8. to be pushed outside my comfort zone.
9. to put faces to the "issues" of injustice throughout the world.
10. to communicate even with a language barrier.
11. to grow in more ways I can probably imagine.

Happy New Year everybody!  I hope you are taking time to relax after the holidays and I pray that you are looking forward to 2011 with optimism and hope. This is a time most people step back and imagine the changes they hope to make throughout the year but I want to challenge you to look at this year as a giant blank white canvas that you are going to add color to as each day passes by. (My pastor told an analogy like this at church and I liked it enough to share.) This is your life and your story you are painting, at the end of the year your canvas will be as dull or vibrant as you want it to be. This year is fresh and new, make it colorful and stand out from all the rest!

Already 2011 has been full of excitement and anticipation for me. I am taking a step of faith that will ultimately end up changing my life. How exciting! Although I am stepping into the unknown I still have expectations of what this trip will bring. Since it is 2011 I will share 11 expectations I have of this journey I am about to embark on:

1. I expect to grow and be stretched in my faith more than I could even try to comprehend right now.
2. I expect the World Race to be the hardest thing I've ever done.
3. I expect to have a better understanding of the Kingdom that is to come.
4. I expect to fall in love with people and their countries.
5. I expect to be heartbroken each time I have to leave a country.
6. I expect to see the power of God working in and through my team.
7. I expect to learn about different cultures and ways of life.
8. I expect to rely on God to make it through the year.
9. I expect God to provide and then witness his provision.
10. I expect to eat things people shouldn't eat…
11. I expect the World Race to be an adventure of a lifetime!

And since the trip is 11 months long I will share 11 things I am excited for:

1. I am excited to build relationships with team members and people we come in contact with.
2. to see the Holy Spirit work and change the lives we come in contact with.
3. to witness to others about the love of Jesus Christ.
4. to see the world.
5. to live out of a backpack for 11 months.
6. to dance in every country I go to.
7. to learn how to sing praises in many different languages.
8. to be pushed outside my comfort zone.
9. to put faces to the "issues" of injustice throughout the world.
10. to communicate even with a language barrier.
11. to grow in more ways I can probably imagine.