Happy New Year!

I’ll never forget, one Sunday in late December 2017, I walked past someone downstairs at church, and in a very smug way this person declared, “2018 - 8 is a number of new beginnings.”

{??…??…}

And as I made my way to where I was going, I smelled the spiritual equivalent of a bad smell.

This person’s words “smelled” off to me. Then I clearly heard the Holy Ghost say, “Nope.” And I knew, right then, that they had their own idea of what God had planned, but unfortunately, God had not gotten the memo.

Everything I sensed in that one, weird, smelly moment came to light less than two weeks later.

Only Living God changes the times and seasons. A year isn’t “new” just because my small human hand can flick the calendar page over. A year isn’t “new” just because there’s a woo-woo number attached to it (how. many. people. proclaimed 2020 as being a year of “perfect vision”, and made their big plans that promptly got upended?). A year isn’t “new” just because grass suddenly gets greener somewhere else, and so I decide I am going to enter a “new season”.

Prophetically, I see much overlap. 2021 is not going to “feel” new…at first. I heard someone else say that just like we can sometimes get snow in spring, 2021 is going to feel like just more of 2020 for a short time.

Because, you see, God doesn’t declare “new” over what we do, for the reasons we do, or in the ways we do. He declares “new” when He is changing an epoch in the history of a nation or city, or when He is giving to a family (birth, marriage, adoption) or He is taking away from a family (death, empty nest)…

…or when there is full-hearted repentance.

Ah. That’s it! Repentance brings new, always. Why does the concept of repentance summon a negative response within us? Who would feel negative about an upgrade, big or small? Do we really want to hang on to outdated or wrong mindsets?

In 2020, we were blessed to do some major renovations in our family’s homes, and in our church home.

Our empty-nest house got a new roof, new gutters and downspouts, a new deck that goes the length of the back of my house, new sliding glass doors, a “new” vintage Preway wood stove, and the list goes on.

The change involved a lot of tearing out the old. It was work. I am sure I cried over some of it, because it was hard on us all. (My daughter Sarah bears a literal scar from wrecking out my old deck with her dad!)

But all this new? Who wouldn’t want it? It’s sweet. It’s good. So good. It’s beautiful. {Other families could get similar results simply by turning loose of clutter. Clear it. Release it. Get rid of all that hinders the sweetness of the space.}

Who does not want fresh, spacious newness?

It’s no different in your spiritual life and mine. We aren’t in charge of when things get “new”, unless we choose for ourselves the fresh, spacious newness of renovating our opinion to line up with God’s design. So if you are really hoping for some fresh “newness” in 2021, be aggressive about finding every single place in your thinking where you can change your mind. That is all repentance is - you thought one way, and you choose to think a completely different way, out of obedience to the will and ways of Living God.

Because ain’t nothin’ new just because I say it is, or because it’s the number “21”, or because I’m turning 50 or 60 or 70, or because I want it to be.

My 2021 Mastermind

“Your testimonies also are my delight and my advisors…”

~Psalm 119:24

364 days of 2020 are now officially behind me. There’s no option but to face forward into a New Year. (…please, God, may 2020 never, ever be repeated…)

In every area of life, I need advisors.

In my business, I hit an important goal that I’d been keeping secret: after 3 successful art collections launched and 2 of those 3 sold out, between commissions and consistent online original art sales (even with no in-person shows!), I made more in 2020 with nothing but my paintbrush than I made in past years teaching online art classes. Not only that, but much of what I sold this year was with oils as the only medium! This was a quiet goal of mine, not shared with anyone, because it was a simple, personal benchmark.

I realize this was not necessary, per se. I realize it is also counterintuitive to the prevalent creative business mantra of “Diversify, diversify”. I actually narrowed - dramatically - my offerings to that of only what came out of my paintbrush.

But I determined not to write another online course until I could honestly say that my paintbrush and my favorite medium was the lifeblood of my business. {Not prints. Not courses. Not books. Not retreats. Not in person classes. Not stuff. Not affiliate gigs. Just fine art.}

Paintings.

And knowing that about myself - that I can make more in one collection (or even one painting!) than I can in one average online class, or from any other thing I do - is lovely. In a way I can’t explain, it is game changing.

That doesn’t have to be anyone else’s goal. My brain is quirky, and I felt such a need to establish legitimacy as a painter before anything else. And not just any painter - an oils painter.

Now, I can write more art courses from a clean, clear place in my soul. I’ve long since known I’m an artist. (So are you…) Finally, I can also know I’m a painter, who can create an income with nothing but a brush and some pigments.

Oh, how I need a good advisor! There’s a next step for me, and it is a big one!

In my spiritual life, I have a deep and settled knowledge that in 2021 I am going to encounter God in ways I never have before. There’s an intimacy that I’m standing on the cusp of, wide-eyed and yes, a little breathless.

The King is my friend.

And I am already aching to form language around what I see, and to paint from what I see, because nothing God does in me is just for me. He blesses me so that I can be a blessing. Oh, how I need an advisor. I want to say it all, and be faithful to properly teach supernatural realities in a manner that is passionate, responsible, enraptured, and tethered to sound doctrine.

My marriage is going places it never has before. We are growing deeper, truer, better, and it is not easy. I’ve heard it said, and this is true - we are only as healthy as we are willing to have uncomfortable conversations. The Preacher and I both want the same thing: a marriage that mirrors the delight that Living God has in Trinity community, and the delight He has in His bride.

We long to apply what we have learned about the finished work of Christ, and what we are learning about the practical impact of the doctrine of the Trinity, to our marriage. We can’t accomplish something that profound all by ourselves! We need advisors.

Introducing my “2021 Mastermind”: the same Mastermind who advised King David, King Solomon, the great apostle Paul, and many others. It’s elite, man.

Being part of this Mastermind is free, but it will also cost me everything I have.

This Mastermind is made up of the testimonies of God. (And a handful of humans, who are only as wise as they too have God’s testimonies as their advisors!)

Every single thing He has done in my life? Every story is an advisor to me of where He wants to increase me. Every single thing He has done in others lives? Each one, my advisor. (So please share what the Lord has done - do not deprive me of a necessary advisor!)

Every miracle inside the pages of Scripture? My advisor.

Every parable? My advisor.

Everything I know to be true about the Living God? Advisors, all.

Question: who are your advisors? Do you even have any? Who are their advisors? And does what they advise line up with the words, ways, being, and personality of a supernatural God? Do the boldest stories in Scripture stand as your readiest advisors? Are you looking to the Big Thinkers of the Bible?

The humans you turn to for counsel - are they creative doers? Do they live ordinary life beautifully and wisely, honestly and obediently?

I know (and know of) people who are, this year, paying $14,000 and $10,000 and $20,000 just to be on the inside of a Mastermind Group.

Who is your 2021 Mastermind?