Oh, the depth of
the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments
and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or
who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?"
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory
forever. Amen. - Romans
11:33-36
Well,
these verses launched us into 2014 with an intended emphasis on the greatness
of God. I think we’ve seen, throughout this year, how great and wise and
wonderful and how truly ‘awesome’ our God is, and how small and insignificant we
really are in the whole scheme of things;
“see what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called
children of God; and so we are!” (1John 3:1)
And
some of His children went through a lot over the last year and I am thankful
that we were able to go through some of those difficult times together. There
were also many joys along the way. But through the good and the tough, I am
truly thankful that we can acknowledge God’s goodness and mercy.
My
vision for His church here in Murillo is that we would all be growing into
maturity in Christ through the faithful preaching and teaching of His Word; that
we would all love Him with all of our hearts and love and serve one another
with grace and mercy, and that we reach others with the love of Christ through
His Gospel .
And
I’ve been thinking about my own journey and the illness I’ve been living with
for a while and thinking how thankful I am that He’s allowed me to go through,
what some might say is a lot, but what I think hasn’t been all that bad, because
it has truly given me insight into what many others are going through so that I
am able to empathize and serve more effectively.
I
guess to lay out my theology really simply; I believe that God is sovereign and
He is good, and anything I go through I can know that it is for my good, to
draw me closer to Him. And that anything I have in this life is because of Him,
but it is temporary; we are exiles just passing through. And I am confident of
this; that He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it on
the Day of Christ Jesus. One day we will be in our heavenly home, living
forever with Him; He is my greatest treasure. I can know that, and trust in
that, no matter what I go through, because that’s what He tells me in His Word
and He cannot lie.
I
am truly thankful for God’s goodness in the way He has provided for His church
over this past year as we see many of our next generation stepping up into
leadership positions. I am thankful for the Official Board that plans and
serves the people; for all the others who may not be in “official” positions,
but are serving non the less in places and areas that we don’t even often
realize; and I am very thankful that we were able to bring a new deacon on
board who desires to serve this church family in whatever way he can.
There
is so much to be thankful for. I find myself joining the Apostle Paul who was
very fond of saying; “thanks be to God”. And I especially join him in saying; “Thanks be to God, who in Christ always
leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the
knowledge of him everywhere.” (2 Cor 2:14)
May
God continue to richly bless us in 2015!