As we start a new year today, I want you to know some of my goals so (1) you might say a prayer for me today, and (2) you might consider your own goals in 2024. Here are some of those goals for me:
- To speak a good word about God to somebody every day. Ideally, I want to get to the gospel within any conversation, but getting there first requires me to start somewhere. If I make sure I tell somebody something good about God each day (even if that person is another believer), I’ll have taken a step toward evangelizing each day.
- To worry less and trust God more by immediately taking any concerns to God. If you’ve read this blog for some time, you know I struggle with worry (sometimes, just lying awake at night). One reason I do that, frankly, is that I don’t always immediately turn to God when I’m struggling. I want to handle things differently this year so turning to God is my immediate step.
- To consider deeply how the Lord wants to use Pam and me in the next several years (because, you know, we’re not getting any younger!). We want to maximize whatever health, energy, time, and opportunity the Lord gives us in the years to come. What we don’t want to do is to wait until that time to determine what’s next; we want to keep hitting the ground running.
- To cling to the Lord more through scripture memorization. Our church, Wake Cross Roads Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC, is memorizing the book of Colossians together this year. I’m excited to be part of a church who prioritizes this task—and my goal is to follow this plan to bring more order and consistency to my memorization.
- To keep believing in faith that the Lord is still working in the lives of the people I’ve been trying to lead to the Lord. If you know the story of my dad and mom’s conversions (which happened after 36 years of praying for Dad, and 47 years of praying for Mom), you’d think it would be easy for me to just keep trusting God on behalf of others. It’s not always easy, though, because I want God to save these folks now. I want to enjoy them in their conversion; I long to see their joy. Waiting’s a struggle—and I want faith to trump that struggle this year.
Would you whisper a prayer for me right now? How might I and other readers pray for you in this new year?
