Remembrance Stones for 2023

Whelp, TT went in 5th gear all year.

That would be my summation of 2023 in one sentence. It was my best year yet. I believe that is the way it is supposed to be with Jesus. It should get better and better every year as we go from glory to glory.

My year was marked by JOY! There is a promise when you abide in Christ you will have your joy complete. So if you aren’t experiencing joy, that in of itself is a litmus test to your proximity with Jesus.

I just finished my remembrance stones that I draw in my journal yesterday. I go through my journals at the end of every year and note the themes God spoke all year. I remember what He did and I ALWAYS leave in awe of the abundant life I get with Him.

“Eyes like Fire” was the theme for the year. Steffany Gretzinger said “What holds our gaze will eventually hold our hearts.” That’s facts. When I behold Jesus with eyes like fire, there is no way out other than being refined. And if we don’t allow Him to hold our gaze, we will stumble.

The reality is we must resist temptation. We must allow God to shine His light wherever He wants in our life. He is Lord and gets the say so on what He wants and what He doesn’t want. Period. It’s better this way. It’s abundant life.

With the theme, “Eyes like Fire,” I knew as I beheld Him, I would get my Father’s eyes. He told me I would see things others didn’t see. God would show me things about people I walked with before they told me. I would know if someone was lying to me only to find out later when they confessed. I would know when they were struggling before they told me. He told me many things that only Him and I knew about. You have to steward well what God shows you. Most things were just to know and not to tell.

God repeats Himself every year to me and I see the themes each year as I reflect. Key verses that He spoke over and over in 2023 were:

“The Son of Man came not be served but to serve and give His life…”

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach GOOD NEWS to the poor.”

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding.”

“For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

“Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom…”

and last but certainly not least “Ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.”

These verses defined my year. You have a choice to let other people’s words, your own words or Jesus’ words write your year. I choose to listen to Him. He’s got an excellent track record on shepherding our lives if we choose to follow Him.

My parents named me after Teresa of Avila. She is quoted in saying “You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.” I get it. I live this. God kept telling me “Ask Ask Ask.” If we really knew WHO He was…we would ask for greater things.

Jesus became Lord of my sleep/wake schedule. It’s like you think you have made Jesus Lord until He wants something precious….like sleep. We idolize many things we think we need or we surrender. It’s a choice every day to let Him have your WHOLE life.

For 150 days this year, I would wake up mostly between 1-3am and ask Jesus “Is this You waking me up?” He would say “yes” majority of the time. In those hours, I would spend time with Him reading about revival and learning what it means to take care of the sheep entrusted to my care. I wouldn’t go back to sleep but He would give me supernatural energy to last throughout our glory to glory days PACKED from morning to evening.

I am always learning how to love the people I disciple more and more. And I believe I loved the sheep entrusted to me this year well. I get more and more why Jesus summed up the commands with “Love God. Love others.” If we got that commands alone we would be a different world.

This year, the teams I worked with all felt like fam. For real for real. And it was in the wee hours of the morning that Jesus cultivated this kind of love. One of my students said to me “You taught me unconditional love. I found out what true family feels like. It’s the healthiest form of family I know.”

You couldn’t teach that in a classroom. It has to be shown. It comes from life on life discipleship empowered by the Holy Spirit. That’s why I love living with the people I disciple….like I imagine Jesus did. Someone you discipled saying “You taught me unconditional love” didn’t come from a weekly Bible study on John. It came from life on life time spent together.

My faith is bigger than it has ever been. I saw God answer almost every prayer we prayed. “God hold out the rain so we can have the crusade.” “Save everyone tonight at the crusade!” “Heal everyone!” “Open these deaf ears in Jesus’ name.” I WAS BLOWN AWAY. Once your boxes get blown, you can’t believe for less. You always have to believe for more.

You gotta give your GUTS. You only have one life to live. Yes, I went in 5th gear all year, but why not? Be as relentless for chasing holiness as you are for preaching your guts out and I promise you will be filled with JOY and awe of all God has scripted for your life.

I went to 9 nations this year and now am up to 62 nations. 133 to go!

Jesus told me this year to stretch out my tent pegs for a school we pioneered called “Word by Heart on Location.” I trusted His voice and we capped the year with 7 nations in 3 months memorizing 51 stories with 52 people rep’n 18 nations amongst us. That’s what extended tent pegs looks like.

My heart burned, like it always does, for us to LIVE THE BOOK OF ACTS. The modern missions movement is really focused on saving your life. Like don’t do anything too crazy, dangerous, for sure don’t get the organization kicked out of the country, get put in jail or beaten. Save your life. That’s the message of modern missions. Yet the Bible I read is the exact opposite. So I’ll preach THAT message until I die….because Jesus taught me if you lose your life you find it.

So catch me starting 2024 figuring out more ways to lose my life because the more I do that, the more abundant life gets.

Funniest moment of 2023: Elijah Belay period. I’ve never laughed harder.

Greatest runs of 2023: Running in Jordan past dogs and the fastest I’ve ever run. Shout out to Jeremy Devers for being the catalyst of both.

Greatest compliment of 2023: When the people I discipled said they had never been loved like this before.

My favorite band of 2023: Black Voices Movement “Chainbreaker”

Best salvation story of 2023: Finding out Patrick (my ex) got saved.

Best answer to prayer in 2023: Pakistan.

Most refreshing moment in 2023: Looking at the sunset on the Sea of Galilee and the rays facing me hearing the Lord say “See, I brought you into the land.”

Best book I read in 2023: “Intimate friendship with God” by Joy Dawson

Fave ministry moment of 2023: deaf ears opened at a crusade I preached at

Most repeated Scripture He highlighted to me in 2023: “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” (We have NOTHING apart from Him. Totally bankrupt spiritually. As long as you remember this, you will always stay dependent on Him. It’s the healthy codependency all of us need to burn brightly until the end.)

Favorite part of 2023: Fire and fragrance culture. I love Gen Z. Rapping at their grad.