December 2023 Monthly Summary

Hidden Joy

This December was a time to reflect on the tremendous amount of hidden joy I found in 2023. This has been a year where God tangibly doted on me and demonstrated that what I want really matters to him. He has committed to establishing and supporting my growth and has given me freedom from others’ expectations. He knows how to get me to the places he has planned, even when I have to be carried there by grace.

As I reconnected with various friends this month, it was a blessing to be able to only share specific details with the people I trust. There is a special portion that the Lord has given just to me, and I’m content to selectively share it.

“My own vineyard is mine to give…”

Song of Songs 8:2

In this year of secret joy, I’ve found how convenient it is to allow others to misunderstand. It frees me up to receive from the Lord, enjoy Jesus, nourish and protect the people I lead. It gives me time to enjoy the present, sift timings, sharpen strategy, and prepare for the future. It reminds me of how God intentionally shrouds himself with mystery when he considers it more comfortable or necessary than sharing.

“He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him— the dark rain clouds of the sky.”

Psalm 18:11

“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Romans 11:34-36

“God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.”

1 Timothy 6:15-16

There is both joy in both the revelation and the mystery, joy in both the staying and the leaving. May the Lord stretch us to encounter the heights and depths of this joy!

The Need for Complete Surrender

This month as I prepared to start thesis writing in January, I felt stuck. I needed both practical and spiritual help. God made me aware that the only way to move into ease was through a greater portion of surrender. God reassured me that if I was willing to receive support from a place of weakness, he would provide beyond my capacity. In December, he used my limits to put his strength on display.

God’s provision of help looked like:

• Receiving unrequested prophetic ministry prayer to have a breakthrough in the writing process
• Changing the structure of how Generations of the Nations stewards prophetic words
• Receiving the gift of a staycation from a friend, resting in her apartment while she was out of town. Having silence and free time to hear from the Lord!
• Receiving the gift of time to adventure with a friend and being on different land outside of Seattle
• Receiving the expertise of an advisor who went through every relevant book related to her subject area in detail. Ultimately, she advised me to change the start point of my thesis outline, reducing the scope to something more manageable. Hours of labor were saved through her specific, clear advice.
• A friend offered to create a website for Generations of the Nations so that I don’t have to do it on my own. Though I love techy projects, I accepted the help and recognized that I needed to let this one go.
• Being able to pass on the raw curated prophetic words for Intergenerational ministry in Seattle rather than synthesize them elegantly. My Generations of the Nations received these layers several months ago, and I needed to trust that because I am sharing them with the right people and am actively engaged in supporting this ministry, it will be enough. I needed to accept that though my preference is to scribe elegantly synthesized words, these raw pieces must be enough for now.
• Being able to resist restlessness and remain in the peace of God. More capacity to direct my body and soul to rest (Psalm 16, Psalm 42).

God’s promise to me has been that if I let him lead, he will multiply my time here in Seattle beyond what seemed possible in the specific window. He has so extravagantly doted on me this year that his promises are believable. He keeps demonstrating that he isn’t afraid of my limitations. Because he has chosen me, he will cause what I do to be successful regardless of me just being human. Because I’ve made my life about his business, he has taken up my concerns as his own. He delights to share!

As I took time to rest and receive from Heaven over the holidays, I was able to rest so deeply that I organically got bored and started to have energy for January. I’m excited for 2024! Lord, help me run with you in excellence and simply soar.

Ministry Developments

• Personal refreshing over the holidays and grace to receive
• Changing the name of the “Youth and Young Prophets Network” group I’ve been leading to “Generations of the Nations” so that the mission and vision are in the title. I knew we’d change it at the right time, and was excited when the right name for this season finally came to the surface. As a bonus, the name rhymes in both English and Spanish.
• Receiving dreams not just about Seattle, but about strategy and the right identity for the Church in the Pacific Northwest. Excited for an expanse in my capacity to receive strategies for larger portions of land.
• Seeing a higher banner being raised over the prophetic movement for healthier standards and culture in groups I participate in. As God raises the banner high, he is making clear to the people that we are people and he is God, so that the people of the nations will learn how to receive. Excited for how greater humility will cause an increase of grace to flow to ministries who have taken the low place. Looking forward to seeing God’s manifest glory as Jesus is lifted high.
• Using present circumstances in my personal life as intercession training for Seattle, warring over the land, and declaring specific truths about the new house God is building here.
  • It’s weird. This journey in Seattle has made me both more aware of the people’s legitimate wickedness and the reality of God’s wrath while making me more compassionate and in solidarity with their weaknesses. I’m aware that the people have needed and still need Delivers who will stand in the gap and war over the land/people vs. condemning them for their sins. Despite pride, so many individuals legitimately have no awareness of the effect of their choices. Furthermore, the decades of witchcraft and false identity spoken over this region have made it difficult for many to perceive the difference between light and darkness. The region and residents need to be healed and restored. Even as my awareness of the extent of the sin grows, my heart is asking God, “What about the people?”
• The scent of honey in various places in the city as I’m out walking
• As my capacity grows, learning how to release aspects of the character of God into a room and bind up the excess demonic chatter
• Understanding that discipline in the Kingdom of God equates to deep engagement
• Having more pieces of the puzzle as I consider what adults, college students, and teens in this region will need to receive more of God. Clarity falling into place organically rather than through struggle.
• Buying a plane ticket abroad for next September and saving my Christmas money to renew my passport

Worship

Names of God

“Jesus, the Sun who Rises at Full Strength”

“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

Romans 8:16-17

Worship Music

Verses

 The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 

Deuteronomy 28:13

Media

Books

“The Congregation in a Secular Age” by Andrew Root

“Carrying children, then, molds and shapes the congregation into a community that is positioned to see and experience the revelation of Jess Christ, who comes into the world as a child. And this child, who is in the world as the world’s very salvation, who is the resurrection and the life, is indivisibly the  child who needs to be carried by his mother.”

Ch 16

“The Humanity of God” by Karl Barth

“Classical humanism, however, thought it could afford to ignore both the accusation [of sin] and the condemnation. It remains to be seen whether a new humanism will ignore them.”

“The word of God is true before we know it to be true.”

“What is man under the sovereingty of the word of God?  No abstractions now, please! No absolute claims for any self-made, independent, human understanding of the self! No anthropology isolated from Christology.”

p7, 19, and 21

Movies

The King’s Daughter

The subtle themes of dignity, faith, fantasy, and familial love in this movie combined with the cinematography, graphics, and characters exceeded my expectations. It has a little bit of everything! The main message of the film is that created beings deserve dignity and choice. Ultimately, the themes embedded in the plotline indirectly promoted Christian values of stewardship and created worth.

Prayer Requests

• Grace to use present circumstances as intercession training for Seattle rather than getting caught in interpersonal conflicts (2 Timothy 2:4). To glide and have ease in the Spirit, calling the waters to part with authority (Deut 28:13).
• To receive the full measure of what God has for me from the United States and the UK both now and in the next few years. To partner more effectively with God in the receiving process without getting distracted by future timings and regions. Integration to have deep roots and remain fully present here even as intercede for and develop a community of nations.
• At the right time, for God to bring me to a community where I can be shaped again for National Prophecy with leaders who embody the renewed, healthy standards he is raising. Apostolic Leaders who
  • 1) Are experienced in National Prophecy and tangibly healthy
  • 2) also have a heart for the Global South,
  • 3) are interested in building up the Church in key regions using five-fold ministry, and
  • 4) want to actively do regional missions rather than just speak or write words of prophecy.