Giving Thanks!

So here we are in a new year – is there anything about 2020 you can give thanks for (other than it’s over)?  Actually, I have been giving thanks all throughout 2020.  Most especially because the Bible says, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)  And I can wholeheartedly say this is how I’ve spent my year.  I learned a long time ago that I am the one who chooses whether pressures and difficulties make me “bitter or better.“  This year has allowed me to experience the fruit of those choices.  I confidently stated before I left the US and ever since, that great shakings were coming.  They have come, and like the “birth pains” the Bible has prophesied, they will continue.  This past year was the “flash flood” that exposed the hidden foundations under our houses.  Thankfully, many have been awakened and have seen this past year as a time to examine what their faith and hope was placed in: Good health? Financial security? Government? Comfort? Routine? Friends/family? Job?  This year has shown us that if our faith and hope is placed outside of anything but God, we are on shaky ground.

Yes, if you look on the surface, it looks like everything is collapsing all around.  But for those with eyes to see below the surface, life is bursting forth!  “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19)  This year, although mostly shut away in my house, I’ve never been busier!  In the fall of 2019, God quite providentially connected me to pray with an organization that makes disciples in some of the darkest countries in the Middle East. I quickly became a prayer coordinator/leader, and we have been doing multiple weekly Zoom prayer calls long before Covid made it cool! 😊 I can tell you that God is moving in amazing ways all across the world to begin to: 1) unite His body in global prayer; 2) fulfill Jesus’ final prayer to make us one; 3) reap a great harvest across the earth.  The acceleration I’ve witnessed the Lord do in the Spirit this year from my “upper room” vantage point has been nothing short of amazing!  And yet, it’s only the beginning…

So in the words of the Apostle Paul, I would like to encourage you to begin 2021 with “…set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:1-2) One way to do that is to take advantage of the unprecedented opportunities only recently afforded to us to gather with the global body in a “virtual Upper Room.”  Today was the first day of a 24/7/365 Zoom prayer call room, where groups from all over the world will come together in worship, prayer and praise all day and night for all of 2021, with a corporate gathering each Friday at 6:00 a.m. pacific/7:00 a.m. mountain/8:00 a.m. central/9:00 a.m. eastern.  You can go to this website to learn more and register for access to the private Zoom link:

Global Upper Room

I hope that no matter what 2021 holds for you, at the end of it you can joyfully say, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” (1 Chronicles 16:34)