Happy New Year everyone. We are entering a new year WOOOHOOO. As I was flipping through social media I couldn’t help but get stuck on the posts that said, “2015 is behind us we now have 365 days to write a new story.” Such a strong statement, one in which I love and see so much truth in and one in which stumps me.
You see the things we live and experience in our lives are the things that mold and shape us. The pain, sorrow, sicknesses, they all contribute to who we are. The difference in all these things we experience is how we allow them to play out in our lives. Some people hold onto bitterness and unforgiveness, allowing it to rule and direct their lives. Some don’t take ownership or responsibility for their actions, blaming others for their problems and misfortunes and will do anything to find attention, even if it hurts and wounds others. Some stay lukewarm, never really processing their hurts and pains, disassociating from their emotions just to keep the “peace” while others have truly processed their emotions, have gone before God and allowed Him to purify all that was keeping them from a deeper more intimate relationship with HIM. Some have truly felt sorrow and wanted to be transformed, have sought his face and his love for healing, restoration and redemption in their lives. Some cannot wait for a new year because they feel it will wipe out all the negatives they encountered the year before, while others wait in anticipation for the new year as they anticipate all the Lord will do in and through them. We can use the things we encounter with a victim mentality or we can use them glorify God. We can use them for a pity party for ourselves, sharing “our story” for sympathy and empathy or we can use it as a testimony to lead others to know and understand the hope and light that comes from knowing HIM.
So as we enter a new year with a new calendar and 365 days to write a new story, allow God to write and direct your path. He ultimately writes our story and we play a part in it. He already has the blueprint for our lives mapped out but its our part to seek him and his ways, to allow him to lead the steps and allow him to guide us down that “yellow brick road.” Yes today starts a new year, a new chapter but for many the last chapter still isn’t finished and the “new year” is still carrying so much pain and sorrow. Lets be sensitive to all those around us. Do not judge one another for where they are at in their journey or how far along they should be in their grieving. We all take in, process and deal with things differently. Lets be different, lets do what the scriptures tell us to do and lets encourage one another, build one another up and edify others, bringing others closer to knowing HIM.
My prayer for each and every one of us this year is that no matter what we face, no matter what life may throw our way, that we keep our heads held high, eyes focused on HIM, and that we keep running the good race set before us, persevering even in the roughest of days. That we all can become selfless, come alongside others in need and that we would be able to live in true Christian community. Meaning the judging, gossiping, betrayal, rejection would flee in the name of Jesus and that we would open our hearts and minds to seeking the depth of love he has for us, embracing it and then sharing it with those who are lost and broken. That we could experience God in deeper ways, our relationship with HIM would grow and we would be in tune with our emotions, present all our requests to God and allow Him to fight the battles that we are so trying to conquer and defeat in our flesh.
Let the new story, the 365 days of fresh clean paper, be written in such a way that leads others to know HIS great name and that allows others to see what it truly means to follow the Lord. That when we surrender our lives over to him, why our lives, with him leading, guiding and directing our paths, is a greater, fuller life then living a life of the world. Let our lives be a direct example of his unfailing, faithful, unwavering love and let us stand firm on his foundation of truths and promises, bringing all glory and honor to HIS great name. Let these next 365 days be ones that at the end of 2016 you don’t say, I am ready to put 2016 behind me and I am ready for a fresh start. Allow 2016 to be your platform, a year where you can say God took the potters clay and began to mold and shape me, building me up and transforming me into a stronger servant of HIM. A year where the veil was taken off your eyes and a year where you became selfless, allowing your life, your testimony and your story, that you allowed HIM to write, be an open book where others came to know the depths of his love and his great name just by being in your presence.
I so anticipate this year and I stand here in awe of HIM and the great work he is doing and about to do in our lives. I stand here with arms wide open because I am ready to receive all that he has in store for me and I am ready to meet him, embrace him and love him in more deeper, more intimate ways. Happy New Years!!!! Sending much love and many blessings your way