Prayer for the New Year

Today is the last day of January 2016. I started writing this blog post at the beginning of January, but then I got sucked into the busyness of life.

That happens to me a lot.

I have a to-do list so long that I start to hyperventilate every time I think about it. I'm so far behind, it will take me at least a month just to get caught up! 

• I have unanswered emails dating back to October in my inbox. 
• We worked hard (and succeeded!) as a Manual translation committee to finish the translation of the Nazarene Manual before Christmas, but I haven't yet had time to prepare the file for the publisher. 
• I keep making short trips to the corner grocery store because I can't drive my car because I don't have time to schedule an appointment to have it repaired. 
• And ever since August I've been saying I need to buy a new cell phone because my 6-year-old phone's battery holds a charge for only a few short minutes of activity.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

While I was in the US over Christmas, I met several people who specifically mentioned that they pray for me regularly. Would you please pray for me in the coming days and weeks, that I would feel less stressed about everything that needs to be done and that God would direct me to do what is most important in His timing?

Here are a few specific ways you can pray for me in 2016:

• I will be teaching a session of a theological education course on worship next weekend (Feb 5-6). Please pray for me as I prepare and teach, and for the students.
• I will be on home assignment in the fall. I haven't been able to follow-up with potential churches and districts to schedule speaking engagements. Please pray that God will direct me to the churches where He would have me share about Romania. 
• I am in the process of training Romanians to take over the role of child sponsorship administration. Please pray for this smooth transition. 
• This year we plan to form a theological library for European Nazarene College students in Romania. Please pray for us as we organize and catalog the resources we have and purchase new materials. 
• Now that the translation of the Manual is complete, we need to move forward with other literature projects. Please pray for the formation of a Romanian literature committee and the translation of new projects. 
• Additional prayer requests can be found by clicking here.

This blog post didn't end up the way I had in mind when I started it a few weeks ago. But life happened.

I'd like to conclude with a prayer that was attached to a card one of my LINKS churches sent me a few years ago. I keep it hanging above my desk.