Hi everyone! I hope you are doing well! This is the longest gap I have had without posting on the blog and I want to apologize for taking so long. This year has been busy, in a good way, and I am thankful for the things I have been able to be a part of. But I wanted to share my “theme” for 2023 with you all and give you an update!
Last year the word/theme I had was “Servant.” Having a servant’s heart is a beautiful thing and something I continue to pray for. But this year the theme I have is, “Getting Out of My Comfort Zone.” This is a prayer I have prayed about since the start of the year and let me tell you that God has been answering this one speedily lol. During our week of prayer and fasting in January, I was really praying for God to help me leave my comfort zone.
We can get comfortable in many areas of life but I wanted to get out of my comfort zone spiritually and to simply grow as a person. We all go through seasons of growth and change. But last year I felt in my spirit that I was getting comfortable. I was helping in my usual areas at church, I stayed faithful to church of course, but I felt that I was comfortable. I did not feel like I was growing but staying stagnant. And this is dangerous for many reasons.
Elder Vaughn Morton describes it best. He describes us as being one of three things: a climber, a camper, or a quitter. If we’re growing with the Lord and continuing to stay on fire for Him, we’re climbing. If we’re staying spiritually stagnant and are neither growing or quitting, we’re camping. If we throw in the towel when life gets hard, and refuse to grow closer to God through it all, we’re quitters.
Obviously we should strive to be climbers, growing higher and higher with the Lord in the Spirit. But sometimes we can become stagnant, going through the motions, not quitting but just staying comfortable and camping. And that is how I was feeling. But I am thankful that the Lord showed me this and that I can pray to continue climbing with God.
With this theme on my heart, I was reading Genesis a few weeks and I was reading about when God took the Israelites from Egypt. They were clearly in distress in Egypt, they were crying out for God to rescue them. When God brought them out of Egypt and was leading them away from Pharaoh and his army, they reached what they thought was a dead end at the Red Sea.
9 But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.
10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord.
11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
Exodus 14:9-12
After God brought them out of Egypt, and the Israelites reached the first sign of “distress”, they cried out saying it would have been better for them to stay in Egypt to serve the Egyptians. God answered their prayers and at the first sign of discomfort, they wanted to go back to Egypt, back to their comfort zones and what they had grown accustomed to for so long.
Let it not be said that we stayed in our comfort zones because we were unwilling to follow after and grow with God in new places. I do not want to miss out on what God is doing in these last days. I believe we are going to see greater things come to pass before the Lord returns.
I said at the beginning that the Lord has already begin to answer this prayer as I have been asked to be involved in different things at church. I am so grateful for this, but I know there’s more the Lord is requiring of me. If this prayer means that I will have to sacrifice some things then so be it. If it means getting up earlier then so be it. I just don’t want to stay in the same spot. I know this will not be comfortable and that’s the point. Growing is not supposed to be comfortable, crucifying your flesh is not supposed to be comfortable. But it is necessary for spiritual growth. And I want to grow.
New Years is a time of reflection, and I know I shared a lot in this post but this has been on my heart. I hope this is a prayer we can all pray together. Also, I’d love to hear your word or theme for 2023 if you feel comfortable sharing it below 😄
Thank you for your patience with the blog! My church just celebrated our 16th Anniversary services this past weekend and it took a lot of preparation! But everything turned out beautifully and I plan to do a post about it soon as well as a couple of others I have in mind. I hope you all have a wonderful day! God bless you 😊
A Love For Truth 