Yesterday, Brent, Andrew, and I got a chance to sit down at a table for a tasty meal. (Tasty meal mentioned at the end of the email!) We have been on staff together for six months because two of us are new staff members. However, it still felt familiar like sitting with family when you have been through so much together that you do not know if you should bring up all the memories or just start all over again. (Albeit, two of us are married.) At one point, we were all quiet and tried for small talk. Then, we narrowed in on our favorite dish that we all love again. One of us said that we should all reflect about what we are thankful for about the year, and apparently, we were all about to say the same thing. We had clear gratitude, and we especially could see how everything had worked together in retrospect, particularly in logistical matters we didn’t know how to resolve a few months ago. Here’s the truth: If you want to see God stories, hindsight is 20-20. That someone who is the source of all, who inspires all our stories, is God, the ultimate storyteller who leaves you anticipating and then delivers the unexpected answers and resolutions. Another friend prayed for us a few months ago – for 20/20 vision – when we could not see how God was leading us. That phrase stuck out to me so much. How do we see when our very nature means that we cannot see God at work in the middle of our story? The prayer was answered for us today because we were looking back.
We also talked about how we have different strengths, and some of us have better memories than others. For me, long ago, from verse 11, is March 2024 when God provided a way for me to join the team! August, when we started on a series of good habits reaching out to college students and building an archive of miraculous stories, feels pretty long ago too. Honestly, as a busy mom, last week feels like long ago when I took on new clarity around our ministry storytelling class. All of those were moments when God was mighty to love me and others as we took faith steps. As you enter the end of another year, and you are focused on Jesus in Christmas, we encourage you to reflect on your God stories. Ask questions like, “What was the most confusing or unclear part of the year, and how did God provide love or strength? How did He create a path that you can finally see now as you look back?” We can tell you that sharing God’s stories has brought us more strength than we could have imagined, but it’s not just for us. As you can see in Mark 9:18-20 below, sometimes Jesus does not only intend for us to keep our stories to ourselves once we get to the good ending, the breakthrough. We want to tell you, then, that God has strengthened our team in trials, and he has provided the funds for 2024 to continue in our projects and to add a training program to the mix! Here’s another of God’s stories:
Once you clearly see what God has done in 2024, I pray that you would find purpose; tell more people about it! Let’s be missionaries together in small, faithful steps. Finally, so many of you are people we have not met who donate because you have been encouraged by a God (dei-) story (dox). You are a part of our story. Thank you so much for your support. If you can ever make it to Merced, CA, reach out to us, and we will buy you our favorite dish to eat together, chicken tikki masala! If that does not work, please email us back with your phone number. We would love to call to thank you! Thank you to all of the friends and family who have supported Deidox this year.
Merry Christmas,
