By Pastor Ron Miyake

Have you made any New Year’s resolutions for 2019? What kinds of hopes, dreams, desires, and goals do you hope to do or see happen in 2019? How would you fill in the blank of New Year, New ______?

I read an article that stated that one gym/health club would bring in extra equipment at the beginning of January. On January 1st, the gym is packed out. Then by around January 7th, they move out the extra equipment as most people have given up on their New Year’s resolution, and the gym returns to normal.

As I think about New Year, New _____, there are certain words that come to mind. New Year, New diet, physical exercise plan, weight loss plan, running plan, spiritual growth plan, learning plan, etc.

When people make these plans, the hope is to get off to a good start now and hopefully continue throughout each month and through the year. Unfortunately, these plans don’t always go like we would like them to. But, if we persevere and see results throughout the year, then we can celebrate meeting our goals.

Of all the different New Year’s resolutions or goals that we might have for 2019, the one that I hope that we would persevere in is our spiritual growth goals. Goals like talking to God (praying and listening), reading and studying God’s Word, connecting with other brothers and sisters in the Lord, fasting(?!?), confession, telling others about Jesus, etc.

But more than just seeing these spiritual exercises as goals to meet and things to do, I hope that for myself and for each of us, we will see doing these things as part of growing in a love relationship with the Lord.

When I started dating my wife and growing in love with her, I remember always wanting to talk with her and to be with her.

Hopefully our love for the Lord and desire to be with Him and spend time with Him would be greater than the love we have for the closest person we know. Though it is not always like that, hopefully, we are growing more and more in our love with God.

Mark 12:30, my theme verse for 2019, says, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

I hope and pray that for you and for me, 2019 will be a year of growing in our love for the Lord. Spending time talking and listening to Him, learning more about Him through the Bible, telling Him what’s on our minds and hearts, sharing with Him our deepest desires. Trusting Him with each area of our lives. Spending time with the Lord not to reach a goal or to complete a New Year’s resolution, but to grow more in love with Him.

Psalm 13 (NIV)

1How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? 3Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; 4my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. 5But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. 6I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.

In this Psalm, David is waiting on the Lord. It doesn’t say how long he has been waiting but it’s long enough for him to feel like God has forgotten him (Will you forget me forever?). Or worse, has purposely ignored him (How long will you hide your face from me?). As David waits, he also grapples with thoughts that weigh heavily on him so that every day he has sorrow in his heart. In addition to his burdened heart, his trust in God’s goodness and justice is shaken as he watches his enemies prosper and fears their humiliation of him.

Wow. Is this what waiting on the Lord is like?

Early on in my relationship with God, I thought that waiting on him was a yoga-like, meditative experience of “letting go and letting God” take over the many cares of my life. As I let go, I figured that he would begin to move in mysterious ways and make all things right and bless me like in Psalm 20! However, over the years of trusting the Lord with my most treasured loved ones and most important desires of my heart, I have found that waiting on him is more like a wrestling match than a resting mat. It’s often very much like the inner struggle seen in Psalm 13.

When you truly wait on the Lord, you’re NOT waiting because you’ve run out of choices. You’re waiting because you’ve experienced the emptiness and serious shortfalls of following your own knowledge and wisdom. You’re waiting because you’ve developed a healthy distrust in yourself and now you’re intentionally choosing to have the Lord examine your heart’s intentions before you make any decisions or take any courses of action.

This choice to wait on the Lord is not an insignificant matter. The power of sin is rooted deeply in the false but stubborn belief that you know what’s best. And so, the moment you open your heart to the possibility that your way may not be the right way, you enter into a sobering conflict between the Spirit and your flesh/sin nature (Galatians 5:17).

In Psalm 13, I believe David is in the midst of this conflict. He’s wrestling with doubts of God’s goodness not because he is weak in faith or because he lacks commitment to the Lord. The exact opposite is true. He’s battling within because his faith is strong and he is unwilling to yield his mind and emotions to the lies, fears, cynicism, bitterness and suspicion that his sin nature and enemies are firing at him. David is wrestling within because he loves the Lord and is resolved to wait on him and obey him.

I love the way this Psalm ends. It ends with David reaffirming his commitment to wait on the Lord and trust in his steadfast love for him even in the midst of the raging conflict and turmoil roiling in his soul. He says, “BUT I TRUST in your unfailing love; MY HEART REJOICES in your salvation. 6 I WILL SING to the LORD, for HE HAS BEEN GOOD TO ME.” I love it. David has known and knows the unfailing love of the Lord. And so like the Apostle Paul, even though he is afflicted in every way, perplexed, persecuted and struck down, because he has tasted the goodness of the Lord, he is never crushed, driven to despair, forsaken or destroyed.

Psalm 13 gives us a glimpse into what it’s like to truly wait on the Lord. Read it. Dwell on it. Pray it. And know that you are not alone as you battle and wrestle to wait on the Lord and follow his will.

By Janet Chan

Like most of you, I've had the privilege of going through the All-Church Transition Study with my Branch.  My initial thoughts were, "Okay, this will be good for the entire branch as we plan to transition from Pastor Cory to Pastor Rocky."  Little did I know that the Lord had a plan for me personally in learning about being in community and trusting in Him.

 On October 3rd, I got a message from my doctor that a CT scan had revealed a mass on my left lung and nodules on both lungs.  Of course as I heard the news, I immediately went to a place of fear. I met with a pulmonologist, underwent more blood tests, and eventually endured a  CT-guided needle biopsy of the mass on my lung to deduce whether or not it was cancerous. 

The next day, I attended branch and shared my news with our members. As I was experiencing this trial, each of the lessons saw immediate application as I had little choice but to trust what God was doing in my life.

During this time, I learned about lamenting in community. At first, Chris and I only wanted to share the news with a close circle of friends, but then one of those friends told me that it was okay to share with everyone, not only to have more people praying, but also to have more folks on the journey with us. This ended up becoming an incredible blessing.  I felt so loved by emails, hugs, texts, and Scripture.  I shared my news with the STEMS moms, and as they prayed for me, I was so humbled to witness them surround and lay hands on me.

As I waited for the results, I learned that Chris would be unable to accompany me to my appointment to hear the results of the biopsy due to a pre-planned business trip,.  I was again beginning to feel fearful.  I desperately wanted Chris there with me and I felt that I couldn't handle hearing the news alone.  Psalm 145:8 says, "You are merciful, Lord.  You are kind and patient and always loving."  In His mercy, my rheumatologist who knew about my mass called the day before Chris left on his business trip.  She told me she had looked at my pathology report and saw no cancer!  After hearing the news, I knew that I could face this without Chris. God had also provided two strong prayer warriors from our branch to accompany me to my doctor's appointment to hear the results of the biopsy.  They stood in Chris' place.  They asked questions and took notes as the doctor spoke to me.  They fed me and we even celebrated with ice cream!!!

After walking through this trial, I have a few key takeaways. Firstly, I learned the value of community. I know our tendency is to keep things private, but I would say let the body of Christ minister to you and it will be such an incredible blessing, not only to you, but to others as well!!

I also learned about trusting in God.  As I sat, prayed, and journaled, the overwhelming feeling I got was the Lord saying, "TRUST ME!!" Of course being human and frail, I struggled with that.  I struggled with overwhelming feelings of fear, doubt, and loss of control.  Psalm 16:8 says "I have set the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."  I just kept on repeating the statement, "I will not be shaken" especially as I was in the CT machine having a needle go into my lung.  There were times I knew I didn't have God's perspective.  I had to exercise my faith muscle and boy did it get stretched!!  It's in the tough times that we get to see how dependent we really are on the Lord.  It definitely helps to live out a life of faith daily so that we won't be paralyzed when life's challenges inevitably hit.

God revealed to me that although Chris is undoubtedly a rock in my life, But Jesus is The Rock and I need to keep my eyes on Him alone!  Sometimes it's hard to have that perspective because God has placed wonderful people in our lives like our spouses, family, and good friends. God uses those folks in our lives so that we are not alone. But it was a good reminder for me to have the correct perspective of who God should be in my life.

As I reflect back, it was indeed a very challenging month as I waited upon the Lord.  Pastor Dan had said that we want to rush through difficult things because we just want to get it over with and not be in pain.  But I found that as I waited on the Lord, He revealed so much of my fragile heart and again reminded me to look to Him for everything I need. 

By Paul Lu

Back in the summer, I heard about a Bible study series that our church would go through together that would serve as a tool for the church family during the pastoral transition. This would also apply to any personal transitions. The purpose was to equip us to see how God transforms us through seasons of change. All of us, at one point or another, find ourselves at some junction of change. We might be entering into an exciting venture or on our way out of a harrowing experience. Sometimes, an unexpected situation suddenly comes upon us. At other times, we go through a prolonged transition.

By nature I am a planner. I like to have a plan in place, and I don’t like surprises. I like to organize my things around the house. I make sure that my calendar is not too empty nor too full. Before I go to bed, I prepare for the next day’s commitments. Wouldn’t it be nice if life was predictable? Unfortunately, the reality is that things don’t always turn out the way we expect. That is where the Transformational Transitions series come in.

I happen to be going through a lengthy transition. It started with a calling to go into missions many years ago. Yet, I did not have the faith to ‘drop everything and go into full-time ministry.’ I chose to pursue the American Dream. I got my degree, got married and had kids; I held a steady job, bought a house… all the ‘right’ things to do. However, God found me out. A few years ago, He reminded me that He wanted me to be in missions. “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” (Eph. 3:7-8) Indeed, it was by His grace that I am worthy to be on the path to preach of His unsearchable riches to the unreached.

I so wish that God would make clear to me what my future holds. I so want to know which mission organization I should work with. I so want to know where He wants me to be. I so want to get my hands busy and fly out to the missions destination! The reality is that God is taking time to shape me. He is preparing me not only through my current studies, but also in my dependence on Him. He is taking time to mold me to be patient, to seek counsel, to wait upon Him, to exercise discernment, and to be willing to let go of my own timing and plans. Abraham waited for 14 years to receive his promised son. Moses waited for 40 years before he led the Israelites out of Egypt. The apostle Paul waited for 12 years between his conversion and his first missionary journey. Time is in God’s hands, not mine.

I was greatly encouraged to hear Pastor Ron’s sermon when he shared about his and Carol’s journey to become missionaries in Japan. It took them eight to nine years from the time of their calling until they finally made it to the mission field. During that time of waiting, Pastor Ron and Carol felt that their relationship with God was renewed. He was also able to get an education at Fuller, a multiple-subject teaching credential, learn how to lead worship with the guitar, get training in prayer ministry, among other things. That time was not wasted! As much as I want to be out there in the field, I know that now is the time of preparation.

The next message on the J-Curve by Jon H. also spoke to me profoundly. For me, it pacified my anxious heart and laid out the J-Curve for my future in missions. As I tread along this transition, I know that God knows best. I don’t have to know all the details, but I know who to trust in. The straight path is not what He has in mind; rather, in love He allows testing,
dying, and discipline so that I can step out in faith one step at a time.

I am so grateful to have taken part in the Transformational Transitions sermon series and Bible studies. These past eight weeks helped me to see transitions in a new light. May we not just say, “Oh, I really enjoyed the Bible study series!” and stop there. Now is the time to put what we have learned into practice!

The “J-Curve” term and concept from: Paul E. Miller, A Loving Life, © 2014 Crossway, page 68.

by Vera Christian

Earlier this year, I shared with our church family about how God was inviting me on a journey of growth through our adopted daughter, Anah. I praise Him for continuing to use this experience, along with our recent all-church Bible study, to shape my heart. May I share some of those thoughts? 

First, He is teaching me how to lament. Honestly, I struggled with this. After all, isn’t the adoption of a child a reason to rejoice? Lament didn’t seem to fit. I did not know how to voice the hardships that came with Anah to the church family because everyone was so excited about it. So I just shoved it down, gritted my teeth, and plowed forward. But as I did so, I became more and more bitter, angry, and resentful. I didn’t feel like I could even bring my struggles to God, so I felt utterly alone. 

That is why the lesson on lament in our study really opened my eyes. I knew that I felt sadness, but I didn’t know how to express it to the Lord. Through Pastor Kenny’s message, I was reminded that mourning my loss with Him is actually the way forward, for it allows me to grieve the past so that I would not stay stuck in a world that was no longer real. That gave me permission to be honest with God about my realities. 

Another way God has met me through this Bible study was reorienting my understanding on suffering. Though I learned about the J-curve before, I needed that reminder once again. How often I wish to skip the dying part and jump to the glories of resurrection! 

As I began bringing these honest feelings to God in my lament, an amazing thing is happening: not only can I see my reality but I am beginning to accept it. I’m not saying that I love my daily experience, for I still feel the sting, but He is starting the work of changing my perspective in the midst of it. It doesn’t change reality, but learning to die to myself so that I can embrace His direction for me brings with it a new understanding of joy, peace, and contentment. What a gift of His grace! 

Learning to view each interaction with Anah one at a time through this lens has brought this truth down into the nitty-gritty detail of life, which is where transformation really happens. It is not on the mountaintop of a retreat but in the ordinary circumstances of life where He shapes our thinking, our actions, and our decisions. I may never experience death through martyrdom, but God provides me with opportunities to die in little ways. I praise Him that these deaths are likewise not in vain for it is through them that He forms His fruit in me. Thanks for the reminder, Jon. It came at just the right time.

Lastly, I am learning to hope in the Lord. Oh, how often I have simply desired to be free from this burden of caring for Anah! I have believed that if only things were different, then life would be better. However, Pastor Kevin’s message reminded me that this is a small, earthly hope. If I truly want to experience all of God’s blessings through Anah, I needed to fix my hope on God alone, not in a change in my circumstances.

I do need to lament and be honest about the life God has given me so that I can move forward. As I do so, I need to learn how to reframe my perspective in the ordinary moments of life so that I can respond to my hardships, even to the point of death, in a way that allows God to shape me in Christlikeness. But it is the hope of the glories to come that gives me the fuel to keep pressing forward, knowing that my struggles will not just end one day, but end spectacularly. This story is going to glorify God in ways I cannot imagine if I keep my eyes on Him and press forward in faith. 

How is God transforming you? I’d love to hear! As we enter this Thanksgiving season, my heart is full—full of gratitude for His patience, grace and goodness, and full of gratitude for you, my church family. May we spur one another on to love and good deeds in the days to come.