Give

Give

Give

Tell Your Story

2
by Kathryn Dyksterhouse

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I always love this time of year – a time to reflect on 2018, all of the joys and struggles, and look with anticipation to the coming year. What would I like to continue? What would I like to change? I love looking at the clean(ish) sheets of my calendar and dreaming about the events that will fill them in the coming months.

One of my recurring “New Year” tasks is to ask members and friends of Westminster if they would be willing to write a blog post in the coming year. Each year, I am overwhelmed by the number of people who tell me ”yes.” Some of you respond with a big, bold, all-caps “YES! I WOULD LOVE TO!,” some  reply more timidly with “I will try it but this really isn’t my thing,” and most are somewhere in between. And I am grateful for and humbled by them all. To those who love to write and have enjoyed the creative outlet that our blog has provided, I am so thankful for you sharing your amazing gift. To those who do not consider yourselves to be writers but agree to write a post anyway, I am grateful for your willingness to stretch yourself and share with us in a way that is out of your comfort zone.

Every one of us has a story to tell, and this is an outlet through which to tell it. So many are encouraged by the stories that have been told through our little blog. You’ve written lighthearted stories, testimonies, burdens that have weighed heavy on your hearts, incredible joys, theological insights, struggles, links to great authors and websites – and some of the appeal of this site has been in this great variety of posts.

One of the most beautiful things about this blog is the opportunity to get to know one another. It can be so uplifting to read the story of someone you may not know very well and get a greater insight into what is going on in that person’s life. I pray that we as a church don’t stop there. As you read the stories of members that you haven’t had a chance to meet, I encourage you to spend some time with them. You can use their blog post as a “jumping off point” in conversation.

If you’ve never written a post for the blog before but would like to contribute in 2019, we would be delighted to hear from you! Please let me know and I will add you to the schedule. And thanks to all of you who have already agreed to write a post.

And as we anticipate the posts that are yet to be written for 2019, it is always fun to look back on some of the posts from the past year. Here are just a few:

  • Baby Conrad: After years of infertility (and allowing us to walk with them on their journey through Mary Grace’s blog posts), Mary Grace Conrad’s first post of 2018 was one of our most anticipated!
  • Holding Things Loosely: Kim Pillow wrote a reminder to parents to trust God with their children’s lives.
  • A Perpetual Trip Down Memory Lane: Our ministry assistant, Josh Reagan, shared his testimony with us. If you haven’t read it yet, I would encourage you to check it out!
  • Everyday Mundane: Meredith Buford wrote about finding God’s blessings and value in the mundane of each day.
  • Prayers From the Pit: Shelby Gorman shared some heartfelt personal prayers.

I also would like to challenge everyone to commit to spending time in God’s Word in 2019. I have gone through several Bible-in-a-Year plans in the past (you can find different options through our website and there is also a plan on our app). This year, I have ordered D.A. Carson’s book For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God’s Word. This is a daily devotional that combines a systematic 365-day plan based on the M’Cheyne Bible-reading schedule (which guides you in the course of a year through the New Testament and Psalms twice and the Old Testament once) with Carson’s reflections on that day’s reading. I am really looking forward to this and hoping that it will have me not only reading the Bible, but really meditating on it. What are some of your favorite Bible-reading plans and/or daily devotionals? We would all love to benefit from what you have done in the past that you have found helpful!!

As I write this, I pray that 2019 will be a year of spiritual growth for Westminster. That we would continue to “make disciples of Jesus Christ and influence the Delta for the glory of God!”

“…I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which in in you for Christ’s sake. For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you…” Philemon 1:6-7

2 Comments

Of course grateful for you too! And even the ones who are able to say no - not always easy to do ;)
What about the people who have faithfully done several but have decided to say no this time?

Leave a Comment

Comments for this post have been disabled.