Posted on by Nancy Gavilanes

Reflecting on 2023 – The Year of “Rejoicing”

My “One Word” for this year has been Rejoice. God has given me much to rejoice over this year.

Of course, it hasn’t been a perfect year. Do those even exist? There’s been challenges, but it’s also been a tremendous year with many milestone moments of breakthrough.

As another year winds down, allow me to reflect on some of the highlights from this year. You can see a quick video here and read the captions below.

This year kicked off with celebrating 10 years of blogging.

Me? The private introvert who only wrote about other people’s stories? That’s only been by the grace of God.

This year has been a year of quiet preparation for what’s to come in 2024 and beyond. Here’s just a snapshot of some of the highlights:

God-Given Dreams Book – This was the year that I worked on writing and refining God-Given Dreams: 6 Ways to Live Your Divine Purpose (NavPress, March 5, 2024). So much of the work takes place behind the scenes. Thank you for celebrating as this book went from manuscript to edits to being on it’s way to be printed. There’s been so many prayerful steps to get to this point. It’s exciting to be getting closer and closer to the launch date. It feels like the slow climb up a fun roller coaster … stay tuned… lots of updates and inspiration coming your way. Please take a moment to preorder God-Given Dreams for the women in your life at any of these links:

Our Daily Bread Author – This was the year that I started writing for Our Daily Bread‘s main devotional. It’s the year I got to meet fellow Our Daily Bread authors. I’ve been quietly writing article after article. This ride is going to get rolling publicly in May when my first article appears. It’s also been a blessing to write for an upcoming Our Daily Bread VOICES Collection special devotional and for ODB’s marketing department.

Teaching at the New York School of the Bible – In a year when two Christian colleges in NYC closed, I’m even more grateful to see how the Lord has preserved the NYSB. It’s been a blessing to teach my students throughout another school year. I’ve had local students and one joining us from South Carolina. God even surprised me by blessing me with a student who’s an Olympian. This former Olympiac could’ve never imagined having an Olympian as a student. Only God could do that! (Pic above is of just some of my lovely students throughout the years.)

Speaking – It’s been a blessing to complete my second year of devotional and prayer times for my CWEN Sisters near and far. It’s a delight to encourage my fellow Christian women entrepreneurs with entries from my 365-day devotional Feisty Faith: Trusting God Day by Day.

This year I also got to speak to the staff at The Bowery Mission.

Writer’s Conference Faculty Member – What an honor for this Latina journaler turned journalist turned author to be part of the faculty at this year’s Publishing in Color Conference! I’ve been wanting to speak at a writer’s conference for some time. This was the year that it happened. I’m told that my presentation was deemed to have “merit” which is so lovely to hear.

So much more happened this year, but these are the highlights I’m sharing for now.

Thanks for staying on this faith journey with me and for your encouragement, support and prayers!

I pray you have a blessed and Merry Christmas!

Let’s get ready to SOAR in 2024!

P.S. This blog post is now available as Episode 48 of the Abounding Faith for Today podcast. Check out this encouraging podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

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