At the beginning of 2024, I asked the discipleship ladies to write down their expectations – how they wanted God to be moving in their lives, in their families, in their churches, and in their communities. When I looked at the expectations, they were common prayers I had heard before: they wanted God to help them by providing school fees for their children, provide ways for them to pay off loans or get money for various needs – seeds for the garden, building a home, etc. These were – and continue to be – ongoing needs, but my hope for these ladies was different. I wanted them to seek God for more than just physical needs. In a country of poverty, there will always be these needs.

So at the beginning of 2025, I asked them to reflect on what they had written in 2024, and prayerfully write down their expectations for how they wanted God to be moving in their lives, in their families, in the churches, and in their communities for this upcoming year. And man, was I blown away….

The expectations are so different than in 2024, and it’s a testimony to the spiritual growth and maturity I have seen in each of them this past year. What these ladies wrote down gave me chills. I am excited about how God will work in their lives and use them in 2025 because they are open and seeking Him.

Here are a few of their expectations/requests…

• I pray for God to continue to work in my life to encourage my children to love him and serve him.
• I want God to change my heart to be prayerful, so that I pray for my family and other people.
• I want God to change my husband’s life so he has a relationship with Jesus. I want to be an example to my husband.
• I pray for God to remove my unforgiving heart and help me to have a loving heart.
• I pray that God prepares the hearts for people in our church to be discipled, and that he helps me develop mature Christian leaders in our church.
• I want God to help give me energy for the work he has prepared for me to do in my church, and to remove the fear in me, so I can stand strong in what I know is right.
• I pray for peace in my home. My home is not easy, so I need God’s peace to be strong and faithful in how I should live.

Please join me in prayer for these discipleship ladies: My co-leader Agnes, Christine, Linasi, Joy, Monica, Tabisa, Mary Kevin, Christine, and Florence. We have concluded our regular group meetings together, but the encouragement as we finish is to continue to seek God and allow the Holy Spirit to transform our lives in our homes, churches and communities. And to find other people to pour into, and disciple them to be more like Jesus. Disciples who make disciples who make disciples. We will continue to be in relationship with one another. And we will continue to be praying for one another as we all “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:19-20