Jan 2025 - I'm excited!

-

 


Happy New Year!

A few weeks ago, I was reflecting on what 2025 will hold, and was thinking about what should be my focus in the months ahead. I found myself talking to God, telling Him I don't want this to "business as usual". I thought about Christmas and the anticipation we often have about a family member or friend opening that special gift you bought with just them in mind, or the wonder in a child's eyes on Christmas Eve, and it dawned on me .... I want this to be a year of excitement and anticipation.

I've been working alongside VOH Africa now for almost 6 years and lived in Tanzania long enough now that I'm familiar with the mission and know my way around. So, it's possible things could become routine, or worse, boring. For those of you who know me well, you know I don't want that! I want the excitement of a child on Christmas Eve and the anticipation of what is about to happen.

As I prayed about this, suddenly I fell upon Roman 12:11, in a new translation I had never heard of before, the Passion Translation. It conveyed exactly how I was feeling and the prayer of my heart:
 

"Be enthusiastic to serve the Lord ...
Radiate with the glow of the Holy Spirit and
let Him fill you with excitement as you serve Him”

As soon as I saw this verse, the excitement started to swell within me. That's it! That's my theme and prayer for 2025, "Lord, may I radiate with the glow of Your Holy Spirit, and may You fill me with excitement as I continue to serve You!!" 

The Message, v 11-13, says it this way, “Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.” How’s that for a directive for 2025?!

I have no intention on burning out or quitting! Instead, I'm going into 2025 filled with excitement, pray I will radiate with His Holy Spirit and am cheerfully expectant of what He is about to do in my life and the lives of the children in VOH.

It’s a busy year ahead …. At VOH Africa, we will be working with each of the centers on new 3-year plans, at VOH Tanzania we expect to open a new pilot site, and at Petra Church, we anticipate opening our new church. That’s just the tip of the iceberg! 
 

I'm on my way. January is always a busy month. The children are back to school, the centre is filled with their laughter and I’m busy working with the VOH Directors to finalize their budgets, plans and expectations for the year ahead. And I’m getting my plans in place too, including coming to Canada to visit churches and individuals and share what God is doing!

Please keep praying for me, the children and VOH. And may you also “let Him fill you with excitement" this year too!

Many blessings,
Jeanette

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jambo (Hello) from Africa!

-
Image
My first week in Africa has been crazy! A rollercoaster of the finest kind. Power outages, water shortages, thunderstorms, isolation, questioning … making new friends, excitement, learning, laughing … and more. All packed into 7 days! It’s been an adjustment that's for sure. I’ve been to Africa many times but never stayed in a place for $15/night, waking up most mornings with no water for a shower , and sitting most evenings in the pitch dark except for the small flame of a candlelight so I can reach out to family and friends on data (at least I got that figured out)! But it’s also been amazing. I’ve met new friends at Villages of Hope Kitwe. I’m humbled by their passion, competency and laser focus on putting the children first. I've seen the joy in the children's faces and heard it in their robust singing. And I’m learning much - not just about the programs (which have consistently impressed me) but about the motivations...
Read more

No more waiting!

-
Image
Have you ever had to wait for over 50 years for something? I have. As a young girl, I wanted be a missionary when I grow up … I wanted to help people less fortunate than me have a chance in life, grow up and know about God. I even knew I didn't want it to be Africa, because it seemed there were already enough missionaries there so I'd go somewhere else, maybe India. They had lots of people. Or maybe even Kuwait. Not sure of the location, but was confident of the calling. In my teens, I have a couple of great short-term mission experiences. I went to Bible college, and seminary, all to get ready. But, God had different plans for me. Doors to go to missions closed. Doors with not-for-profit organizations opened. So, I went in a new direction. I've been working in NFP and NGO marketing for the last 35 years. It's been great. And much of this was related to helping the poor overseas. But it's not the same as being on the ground, working directly wit...
Read more

My Tanzania work permit was rejected. What do I do now?

-
Image
New Years Eve  morning... instead of getting ready for a hot New Years Eve date (ok, stop laughing), I got an email from the person in Tanzania who has been working on my work permit that read: "I really wish I had better news to report, but I did want to keep my promise to let you know as soon as we heard anything. You will see the attached document from the Labour website - rejected permits. This came out yesterday.  Unfortunately your name appears on page two. It seems our trying to follow up and write to the commissioner didn't make a difference. I'm so sorry, what a journey this has been - and one which we didn't expect.  Things are changing quickly in Tanzania these days when it comes to anything with the government, but especially anything to do with foreigners in the country. They are becoming increasingly strict and rules seem to be changing every week. We did our best to keep up and submit everything they asked for, but apparently they do ...
Read more