And, this one is for twenty ten.

Here I am.
2010.
I can't say I will miss 2009,
but, I surely will remember it.

This past year I could most positively say was one of the hardest of my life, it was hard, there were many battles, followed by many tears. In the midst of it all I lost parts of who I am, I lost my passion, and more then anything the very feeling of being alive was sucked out from me. Even though it was hard, when I look back on this past year the thing I will remember the most was the way my beautiful Jesus was right there with me through it all. I saw my Abba & His love plain and simple when everything that we surround Him with is striped away; He was just there loving as He always is. That will forever and always be my fondest, most precious memory of 2009.

A new year has begun. A new decade has begun.
When I ponder the things I want this year to be about, what I truly want my life to be about, one name comes to mind....Jesus.

I just got back from two weeks in Ireland, and it was absolutely beautiful & life changing in a lot of ways. I did a lot of thinking, I saw the things that I had last over the past year, and in the midst of a very broken and lost country I began to see what truly matters to me and what I want to be about. I essentially found the very things I had lost throughout the year.

What I want this next year to be about?
Jesus.
I don't want to make aspects of Him,
more important than Him.
I have so many dreams, passions.
I want to see justice brought to injustice.
I want to see love brought to the unlovable.
I want to see hope brought to the hopeless.
I want to see the broken dream once again.

But, I can't let any of that become the essence of who I am.
I can't let wanting those things to happen become more important then Jesus.
Although, I don't want to do any of it without Him & I want to do all of it for Him...
I still can't let it become more important.

See, I think we can take messages, aspects of His heart, and it becomes something we chase, almost idolize. The truth is though, all we need is to burn for Him, to be so engulfed in who He is that nothing else in this world matters. To so, crave His presence that people see HIM when we walk past them in the streets. Once that becomes who we are, the rest follows.
I will see justice, love, hope, dreaming brought to those in need of it.
Because, all of that is Jesus.
And, I don't want any of them to become higher then Him in my life.
They mean nothing without that 5 letter name: Jesus.

So, for 2010 I have a lot of dreams, and visions; things I want to see myself accomplish & grow in.
But, more then any of that, I just want to be so helplessly in love with my beautiful Abba.

I am excited for whats ahead.
I am excited for lives being transformed.
I am excited to see Jesus bring revival to the dead places.
I am excited to see countries & peoples that have no Jesus become the very places where revival breaks out.

I encourage you to dream this year, and to truly live your life alive.
Most of all, keep your eyes on Jesus & become literally obsessed with His heart.

I'll leave you with a quote from a hero of mine....someone who I believe is changing the world..through love & hope...but ultimately through some amazing Jesus love & hope:
"Darkness cannot cast out darkness. You need a light for that. Fear cannot cast out fear. You're gonna need hope for that... death warrants more death. But I believe life wants more life and I'm convinced that the greatest weapon we've got is LOVE! And maybe, in a world full of fighters, in a world imploding with hate, maybe to be a lover, you gotta be a fighter. Maybe that's the biggest fight, the only fight worth fighting, the fight you're gonna be in for the rest of your life."

(Jon Foreman)


Peace. Love. Joy.