I pray that as you enter 2023, you will indeed be able to re-define your rhythm in life and leadership. This is so important so as to be able to run the race in life and leadership well. And if you are doing well in this, congratulations! 🙂

Have you got a healthy rhythm? Will you make sure to pause regularly and integrate a sabbath into your week?

When I travelled with a team of international youth ministry leaders through some Balkan nations at the beginning of December, one of the conversations we informally had was around rhythms and how to stay on track. It was amazing to hear what these leaders do and experiment.

Quite a few have set alarm clocks daily to be reminded to pray, remember God in their busy schedules or to intercede.

One story of how God has answered these prayers comes from my LeadNow team-mate Pajtim Smolica from Kosovo serving with Greater Europe Mission:

“Luke 10:2 says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” It’s this verse that prompts Nora, I and many others throughout GEM to set an alarm each day at 10:02 am. This alarm reminds us to take time and pray for God to send workers into the mission field because the harvest is indeed plentiful. There are nearly 2 million people in Kosovo, many of who have never heard the Gospel. They don’t have an understanding of the love God has for them. They don’t know the story of Jesus giving His life for them.

For several years, our family were the only GEM Kosovo team members. I didn’t set up the alarm clock immediately, but a few years later, I was reminded again to set the alarm clock. We had been praying at 10:02 am each day for a few months when we got an email. There was a young lady from USA interested in coming to Kosovo to serve. She had never been to Kosovo before. Within a year, she moved to Kosovo!
Then sometime after that, another lady joined our team.

God has steadily sent even more workers since then and by God’s grace, within two years, our team has grown to 8 members now! We know that prayer works. We know that in spite of the brokenness across the Balkans, God is opening more doors than ever before by bringing workers and renewing passion for the Gospel in the local churches.”

How about rethinking your rhythm and set your alarm?

I started to set my alarm on 9:38 am since the trip to the Balkan to intercede for the European young leaders. My verse is Matthew 9:38, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

How about joining us to pause and pray just like Pajtim or myself? How about putting pauses and breaks into your weekly schedule?