Devotional

It seems like it was yesterday when we started 2014, and suddenly a whole year has passed. In the past year, there were a lot of things that happen to both me and my wife in all areas of our lives, and as always, I am very grateful of what God has done in our lives.

We started off 2014 very refreshed, as we went back to Indonesia for holidays. My wife started her study on Children Services, something that she is very passionate with, and new responsibilities for me in my workplace. We continue serving in our local church, and keep growing in our journey with Christ. In the middle of the year, again, we went to Hillsong Conference along with some of the young adults in our church (which we call “kids”), and we continued the year with new revelations.

We started off a new ministry in the church, Youth Fellowship to reach out young adults in our church and to connect to them, as God had put it in my heart since 2013 to start reaching out for them. As with every new ministry, there are some challenges, however I believe God wants to do more great things with these kids. We (unintentionally) became their mentor, and I am very grateful that several of the kids started opening up to us.

I also enrolled in a Bible college to study about the Word of God, and to better equip and prepare myself for the next step of the plan that God has in store for us. I admit, studying theology is far more difficult than what I’d expected, but thank God I was able to finish off my first semester! I didn’t expect it would be harder than learning programming, to be honest.

Perhaps one of the highlights of the year was when we found out that my wife is expecting, and it changed the way we view ourselves (and particularly how I viewed myself), as now we have something even more precious that God has trusted in our care, even though it is still a while before the baby is due. It took us a while to realise, but we can see that God is working in every single thing and always has your best interest in mind.

In 2013, I closed off the year and opened 2014 with a commitment to serve the Lord more, and throughout the whole year I can see it came true. Looking back, however, I feel like I could (and should) have rely and trust in Him more. This year, in 2015, I want to start off with a new verse, one that resonates clearly in my heart, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30, NASB). This year, I hope that God will continue to use me (and my family) as a vessel to show His love to the people around us, through lessons of meekness, humility and obedience. And this is our commitment in 2015.

Stay blessed.

Time flies like an arrow. It’s only couple more hours before 2014 comes through the door and settles in. This past year, there are a lot of things that have been happening to me and my small family, and I am grateful to God for His favour throughout the past year.

If 2012 was an amazing year for me in general, 2013 was simply speaking, off the chart! The year started off strong with me and my lovely wife planning for the whole year ahead, things that we wanted to achieve, goals that we set, and resolutions abound. We planned our trip to Sydney for Hillsong Conference, and we thought about going back to Indonesia for year-end holidays.

My profession as a software developer/programmer also expanded as I was given more responsibilities in the areas that I manage, although I hadn’t been promoted yet. In her search for a full-time job, my wife also had several of her prospective employers interviewed her, and finally landed a temporary full-time job in an international company. We were never lacking in everything, and everything was good.

We had plans for our little family to be well-established in 2013, and we had a lot of things going on to help us achieve our plans. But it all changed when we came to the conference in mid year. God spoke directly to me about things that He wants us to do, and none of them are related to our plans. Our minds were changed radically, and our goals redefined to align with what He wants.

Things did not look up quite well for my wife, to be frank. After she was being let go of her position for unspecified reasons, she had a difficult time finding another full-time job for several months. I myself also given more and more responsibility in my workplace that I started having difficulties managing the balance between work and personal life.

However, God is faithful to us. I believe He had prepared us beforehand during the conference for the things to come. During our seemingly difficult time, never in a single second we doubted God. We tried to stay faithful to Him despite our circumstances, despite our difficulties.

And God poured blessings to us more than we can imagine. There is a term in Indonesian churches that doesn’t have an English equivalent yet, a term called “spiritual acceleration”. Basically, the idea is that when the time is right, God will propel you towards another level in an instant. You might be sceptic about the concept, but that is exactly what happened for us in the past 6 (six) months.

He blessed us with more and more blessings. Blessings that we didn’t expect at all. I was promoted into a senior position in my company, something I wouldn’t even dream of concerning my age and experience. My wife was also put into a position where she is being prepared for filling in for a more senior role as well. And by His grace alone, we were able to purchase our own car.

But the blessings didn’t stop there. God propelled us to an entirely whole new level and understanding about His words and love. We understood each words that God has spoken to us more and more each day, as each verse reveals something about His plans for us.

During our year-end holiday back to Indonesia, we visited several different cities, and attended different churches. We met with several pastors, both active and retired, and we listened to several sermons during our holiday. I didn’t expect it, but God’s messages keep coming right to me, revealing, convicting, confirming, and yet comforting.

As both me and my wife close the year with our family in our hometown, we are expecting bigger things from God in 2014. Not big things in terms of worldly gains, but bigger things in terms of the fulfilment of His plans and purposes for us.

Joshua 24:15 (NIV)
But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

There will be challenges to be faced and battles to be won, but I believe the Lord is with us. No matter what may come, we will still serve the Lord. And this is our commitment in 2014.

Keep calm, trust God, and stay blessed.