Hello, New Year! || What to Expect, Word of the Year & A Challenge for You!

A brand-new year is before us! What a fantastic opportunity to make it the best year yet, with the Help of Jesus Christ! Don’t know Him personally? Check out my testimony. Having a personal relationship with Christ is the very best way to begin the New Year!

2020.

So different, but it sounds so right, too. It’s a clean slate "with no mistakes in it yet." (Anne of Green Gables, probably my favorite quote from that story!)

Very quickly, I’d like to share a few things to expect here on the blog; then, we will dive right into my word of the year (click here for 2019’s word of the year!)

I am a ministry kid (well, I’m technically an adult, but I still live at home, so “kid”!), and that means that sometimes, I cannot adhere to a schedule. I try to post on Saturdays (changing from Friday). But if something comes up and my posts are not there, you know what happened 😉. I post devotions, writing advice, historical articles and bookish posts! I also post reviews of books that I’ve read, fiction and non-fiction, traditionally published and Self-Published. But a new feature that I’m adding this year is a special post on the first Monday of each month (Lord Willing!) and that I shall share with you after our Word of the Year.

Word of the Year is very special to me, even though this is only my second year doing it. I learned so much from my 2019 word, Stand, and I can’t wait to see what God will show me with this word.

So without further ado…

*Drumroll*

2020’s Word of the Year is…

Now, before you go laughing, thinking this is a pun off of 20-20 Vision, it’s not. When I picked this word (or rather felt God impressing this word on my heart over and over), I hadn’t even thought about the fact that this was 2020.

This verse keeps coming to the forefront of my mind. Since my family travels full-time for the Fundamental Broadcasting Network, I attend multiple missions conferences a year. It has touched my heart in a way hard to express. Though I don’t feel called to overseas missions (but I’m open to that if it’s what God wants for my life), Missions means a lot to me. These people are dying, lost without Christ. And when we turn our backs on the Vision of Missions, not only do they perish, but so does our effectiveness in the Christian life. Missions is the heartbeat of God.

We’ll talk about this more in our upcoming devotion, “Where is Your Vision?”

Now, in keeping with this theme (although there are certainly more aspects to one’s vision beyond missions), I decided to share with you my Monday Blog post theme and a challenge for you.

Every First Monday (as I said, Lord Willing), I will be posting a spotlight on a different country in the world. Basic facts, interesting information, missionaries that serve there if applicable (Have to make sure they are the kind I want to promote!), and a little about the spiritual condition of the country.

Here’s where your part comes in.

Please join me in the Missions Vision Challenge! Will you commit to praying for that country throughout its assigned month? Will you pray for laborers to go to that country to reach it for Christ? Will you give to your church’s missions program, trusting the Lord to send it to the Missionary that needs it most? Will you find out if you have a missionary in that country, and if so, pray for them by name, read their prayer letter, and perhaps send them a card/email of encouragement?

Before we go, I have a few Missions themed Story Prompts for you. And a few Missions book recommendations. Here you go!

Books to Read

Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Diebler Rose (18+ if read independently)
Missionaries with the Millers by Mildred A. Martin
Wounded Tiger by T. Martin Bennett (18+)
David Livingston, Louis Zamperini, Lilian Trasher, Amy Carmichael, and Jacob DeShazer by Janet and Geoff Benge.
 
That’s all I have for you today!
Have a Blessed New Year!
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22