Ephesians 4:1 says, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received…”

This verse has the been continually pressed on my heart in recent weeks as the Spirit has revealed to me over and over incredible ways that God is moving in my life. Here are a few things I wanted to share:

• At the first of the year, I spent four days in Atlanta at the Passion 2013 Conference. I gained incredible insights from the various speakers such as Beth Moore, Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, and Juduh Smith among others. God revealed several fears I had in my life for the upcoming season of life and in my ministry. I worshiped in an incredible community of believers from Lawrence, about 50 of us, and from around the world, about 65,000 of us.
• On January 7, I had the privilege to lead a Bible Study at the University of Tabor.  Through this experience, God confirmed in my heart my passion for sports ministry. I prayed for more opportunities to do this in my life for a long time, recognizing that perhaps this is my calling.
• On January 9, I drove down I-70 from Lawrence, KS to Kansas City, MO to interview with the Royals Major League Baseball Club. In what would have been a dream job four years ago, I sat in the interview realizing that the Lord had changed the desires of my heart.  I went immediately from Kauffman Stadium to the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) National Support Center. Why? Because I felt the Holy Spirit leading me to, and I wanted to be obedient to Him. Without any expectations, God revealed Himself to me in a very real way. Two weeks later, I am officially the Communications Intern for Fellowship of Christian Athletes. This is made possible only by God, because He has provided a way for me to do this as class credit. The amount of coincidences He has lined up is truly comical, and I question over and over again why I ever fear or why I ever lack faith because His ways are perfect and beyond my deepest imagination.
• On January 13, I kicked off preseason softball camp with my teammates. We endured physical and mental adversity through two and three-a-day practices and workouts. The fight and mental strength that we have shown throughout preseason has made me more and more excited for our first game on February 8. We are more mission-focused and believe we have what it takes to reach our goal, a Regional, at the end of the season.

With all this being said, today is the one-year anniversary of Competing for His Glory. Wow! God has taught me so much through this blog in the past year. He has taught me discipline, obedience, and only grown my passion for Him. He has reveled to me a calling and a passion for sports ministry that I now get to pour out on a week-by-week basis through FCA at the national level and right here at KU as we are working to get this group started here. I truly cannot thank you all enough for the support and encouragement through this process.

My prayer is that 2013, in all that God has planned, He continues to use this blog as He desires. In my senior season, I know He will teach me in new ways that I could not have even expected.

To end, I echo the prayers of Paul in his letter to Ephesus. We have a God that can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine because of His great love for us through Christ. Kneel with me before our God as we submit ourselves to His calling for our lives.

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” –Ephesians 3:14-21