10 things the lord taught me in 2024
Hello friend! Welcome to the blog! :)
Y’all, can we reflect together? Let’s just be a fam! I just kinda want to reflect with you guys about things that the Lord has taught me in 2024! We’re gonna get real and vulnerable in this blog post- are y’all ready? But these are just some things that the Lord has taught me in this year of walking faithfully with Him. Maybe some of y’all can relate, and what is so cool is that we can never stop learning and growing with God. We will never reach the finish line, we will always be able to grow and continue to have deeper levels of intimacy with Jesus! The key though is willingness! As long as we are willing to learn from Him, He will teach us! He is always excited to teach us things, show us things, and just Father us! As long as we are willing and inviting Him to do so! Isn’t that so cool! And He will never run dry; we actually need more and more of Him every day, and He loves to reveal more of His heart to us! With that being said, one of the things the Lord taught me this year is
Don’t ever say no to God- be faithful and say yes to the things He is calling you to do!
This is one of the many things I felt the Lord walking me through this year. Don’t ever say no to God! For one, you never know what you are saying no to! Sometimes we can think we know what we are saying no to, we think we know what is going on and what is best for us, but the reality is that God sees so much more than we do. We see our temporary, while God sees our eternal. He has an amazing plan and purpose for your life; He wants to take you on amazing adventures that will make you grow in your faith! He knows what is best for you; and often times, His plans are different than our own. But they are 100% better than anything we could ever ask for, think, or imagine. This year, the Lord called me to go to YWAM camp, to sign up for a DTS this fall (read previous blog post for full story on that :)), and to start this blog! At first, I did say no. I thought that I would not be able to make YWAM happen because of finances. And with still being in school, working, and serving at church, I thought there was no way I could make the blog happen. But, God kept urging me to be faithful, and say yes. Oh my goodness, I am so happy that I did! God made a way for me to go to YWAM, and it was not only the best week of my life, but God called me to do a DTS while I was there for the camp! I don’t think I would’ve been ready to say yes to DTS if I hadn't gone to the camp! See- God knows BEST! And with the blog, God has given me the grace, capacity, and joy to do this! It is truly a highlight of my week, getting to write and talk about Jesus with you guys! I believe that the Lord is going to use this for something in the future too, and if I would’ve said no, I would never know what that could be! Ultimately, the Lord wants us to live the life HE wants us to live, but we never will if we always say no, even if it may seem scary or crazy. When we cannonball out of the boat, into the unknown, fully relying on God, that is when we grow, that is when God’s glory can SHINE!! When we are in the center of God’s will, life is so much better! I recently heard this quote someone said from my church. He said: “The true measure of success is how many times you say yes to God.” Ooooo, isn’t that just so good? It’s true though! So, never say no to God!
Trust the Lord- fully depend on Him
Another thing that the Lord has walked me through, is trusting Him. He is trustworthy, and He knows what I need, when I need it. He works everything out for the good of those who love Him (Romans 28:8). He always has my best in mind, your best in mind. We need to let go and let GOD! When we hold on to things, let’s be honest y’all, we just make it worse. Cause we are not God! Our job is to trust Him, love Him, live for Him, be faithful and obedient to Him. That is our job, God’s got the rest! We can rest in Him, and trust Him with every single part of our lives- whether that be finances (that was definitely something for me this year), friendships, a job, a home, etc. Trust your ABBA, He’s got you!
See myself the way God sees me- and take care of myself!
Y’all, this was definitely a little bit of a struggle for me this year. I have talked about this before, but one of the biggest ways that the enemy tries to attack me is with body image. Self-hate, feeling like I am not pretty enough, skinny enough, I can’t sing well enough, or evangelize as good as other people- just all of these feeling of “I am not enough”. But the Lord truly delivered me from self hate this summer! He has put a new lens over my eyes; His lens! Instead of starving myself and over exercising, I am now seeing my body as a beautiful gift from God and a temple of the Holy Spirit! I view food as fuel; fuel that the Lord made for us to enjoy! God has never looked at me and said, I wish you were different, because HE made me just the way I am! I don’t need to look a certain way to be loved, it is what is on the inside that makes me truly beautiful! Instead of looking inward so much, now I am able to look outward- and live confidently in the way God made me! I am able to evangelize better, because I am not so focused on myself anymore! And, I have been healthier! I am now at a healthy weight; I can actually exercise more, I have more energy, and am able to enjoy life!
There is so much beauty outside of my comfort zone
In 2024, the Lord challenged me to step out of my comfort zone, and showed me how beautiful it is when I do! I challenged me to be more bold for Him! I kept the Great Commission at the forefront of my mind, looking for opportunities to share the Gospel. Now, I am not perfect at this. There were some days when I was just exhausted and struggled to get through. But Holy Spirit challenged me to be ready, and live empowered by Him! When we step out of the boat, you have no idea what is on the other side of your yes. The Lord wants to use you in amazing ways, that are outside of your comfort zone! And, we will never grow if we never step out in boldness and faith! The Lord could use you to either plant a seed, or lead someone through a salvation prayer in that moment. Let’s let our love and passion for Jesus show- everywhere we go and in everything we say!
Showed me true authentic friendship
This year, the Lord sent some amazing people in my life. They inspired me, sharpened me, and I had some amazing fun times with them! The Bible says that you will be known by your fruit, and these people have some great, godly fruit! I am so blessed to be able to enjoy life with these amazing, godly people around me!
Give myself grace- I don’t need to be perfect- and I don’t need to do everything alone
Another thing that Lord has walked me through is giving myself grace. This has been a big struggle for me. I like to make things the best that I can, and when they maybe aren’t the best or the results aren’t what I thought they would be, I beat myself and feel like I blew it and am failing. And then, I try to do everything by myself because I don’t want to be a burden to anyone. But, the Lord has truly revealed to me that I don’t need to be perfect to be loved or successful. In fact, I will never be perfect! And again, my success is when I say YES to God. And He is proud of me when I say yes and a faithful! God has given me His grace, and so now I have to make sure I continually accept it and give myself grace too.
You can’t say yes to everything
Something I tend to do is I try to say yes to everything. One of my love languages is acts of service and so I try to be everything for everyone and fill in any gap that needs to be filled. But, that is just not possible and then I end up burnt out and overwhelmed. Time is very valuable, we have no idea how much time we have here on earth (not to be a Debbie downer), so we can’t say yes to every single thing. Not everything is 1. good for us, 2. helping us grow with the Lord, and 3. will push us towards our calling. The Lord does have a calling for us, and like I was talking about before, never say no to something God is calling you to do. But we must use discernment and ask Holy Spirit to lead us about what to say yes to, and what to say no to. That way we can focus on what God wants us to focus on, and not get run dry.
Don’t talk about Jesus more that I spend intimate time with Him
This ties into what we were just talking about, and is another thing that I have had to walk through. I heard this quote from Ally Yost, and she said “I never want to talk about Jesus more than I spend intimate time with Him.” We are all called to go and make disciples. To make the Gospel message known and tell as many as we can about Jesus. But, all of the evangelism is an overflow of your own intimate time with Jesus. You can’t pour into others if you aren’t full yourself. I found myself constantly pouring out- pouring out so much to where I was running pretty dry. Our priority should be spending intimate time with Jesus, making sure our hearts are right with God, and full of the Holy Spirit! Then, telling others about Him will be a true overflow! We need to make sure we are diving into the Bible every single day! Not only renewing our mind in His Word, but drawing closer to Him and getting equipped with the truth for the spiritual battles we face every day! I HAVE to have my Bible time in the morning- I legit can’t function without it! And I want to give God the best part of me/first part of my day, not just the scraps and leftovers. That’s why I read my Bible first thing in the morning!
Take time to rest!
On the topic of spending time with Jesus, resting is something I have had to make sure I do every single week. The Sabbath day was created for us- to make sure that we are refreshed with the Lord for the week to come. With the busyness of life, I have sometimes skipped out on a Sabbath day. Without resting with the Lord, my family, and reseting, I become burnt out and too tired to do anything well. I end up in a little rut, and then feeling bad about myself- you can probably see the cycle. So making sure I have a Sabbath day every week- where I don’t look at my phone, spend more time in my Bible, and have fun with family and friends in crucial! I am definitely going to do try and do better at this in 2025!
Don’t live for the approval of people, live only for God
Something that I have struggled with in the past, is caring so much about what people think. The fear of man is not only stopping you from being bold for the Lord, but then, it is showing that you care more about what others think than what God thinks. For one, human opinion is not that important or good. When Jesus was standing trial with Pilate before He was crucified, Pilate gave the people a decision to either release Jesus, or a murder names Barabbas. The people voted for Barabbas. Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, the King of Kings who had loved them, had done so many miricles for them, the only perfect human who has ever walked this year; this is who they voted to be crucified. And two, Jesus did die for us! He loves us so much, that He died for our sins. His is the only opinion that matters;He is the only one we should be living for. When we seek approval from people, we are wanting quick treasures that will pass away. But when we live for God, we are investing eternal treasures in heaven. When I die, I want God to say “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” He isn’t going to say that if I am only caring about pleasing man. All of us humans will pass away, but God is eternal. I want to start living my eternity right now- we all can! We just need to say yes and go 100% all in for God, regardless of what people say. Because people will think we are crazy! They thought Jesus was crazy! Who are we to think we aren’t going to face persecution, when the perfect Son of God did! In the Bible, it tells us to actually rejoice when persecution comes (James 1:2-3, Romans 5:3-5, 1 Peter 1:6-7, Matthew 5:11-12)! That is just proof and evidence that you are living for the Kingdom of God, and ya know what: the devil hates that. It shows that the enemy is scared, and so be glad when persecution comes!
I hope that your enjoyed this reflecting time together. I encourage you to reflect with God as well. I encourage you to be willing, and let Him teach you new things. Let’s live life with Jesus together!
I love y’all so much and Jesus loves you more! Be sure to check out updates on my YWAM journey, and stay tuned for the next blog post! Let’s show somebody how amazing Jesus is today!
