hope with deep roots

i took this picture this morning on our annual new year's day family bike ride. i love how small my guys are in it, and how big the sky is, how wide the path. it sums up a little of how i am feeling today, as i look back at 2008 and see just how much the Lord has done. it's overwhelming and can't be told in a blog, a video, a song. how much He has allowed us to be a part of. 2009 is a mystery to unfold, an adventure without a roadmap. in the (paraphrased) words of louie giglio "i don't know where i'm going, but i know who i'm going with! and his name is Jesus Christ!" that's the path ahead of us.

yesterday i just took some time to thank God for all He has done and all He has taught me. at least i tried to. never enough time or words. but we have a Lord who knows our every thought. i am so thankful for my dear husband, who has seen me through a really challenging year emotionally. he's been a rock. for my sweet boys who bring sunshine in wherever they go. i am so thankful for my dear sisters who love me, pray with me and for me, you know who you are. i am thankful for the prophetic, prayerful voices in my life that God uses time and again to keep me on the right path. you know who you are. i am thankful for my mom and dad, and proud of how they have handled all that life has dealt them this year. God has been there, and He is going to be there.

i thought about the cities i've been in the last year and a half with Passion...chicago, l.a., dallas, atlanta, mexico city. i am so grateful to have gone and felt the Lord's presence rush into lives. i'm so thankful for the hearts who carry that ministry, how they have encouraged me, prayed for me, loved me even when i've not been easy to love. you know who you are. i am thankful for being a part of His story all over the world, whether i go in person or from my prayer closet. either way it's amazing.

i'm thankful for every intercessor who came and prayed with me in those cities, and in the years before, for friendships, for faithfulness, for giving your all to Jesus. for leaning in to hear His voice in those prayer rooms.

i'm so thankful for imagine art and for the beauty i see everyday i'm there from the hand of God in our artists and staff. for a studio full of love and paint and music. i'm so thankful for ahop to opening their doors and sharing their space. for their amazing prayer warriors who walk in victory and transparency. i'm thankful to have a place where i can be so real. thank you.

i'm thankful for the masses of college students who love Jesus that live in the greater Austin area and for our church that serves them, spurs them on. for college students that pray fervently for one another, for the lost. wow. thankful to have a church that loves the city with God's heart. what an answer to prayer.

i'm really thankful to the Lord for my life.

every time you cross my mind, i break out in exclamations of thanks to God. each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. i find myself praying for you with a glad heart. i am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God's Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. there has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. philippians 1:3-6 (the message)