As we close out another year and as we tend to do, reflect on this past year and look forward to what this new year will bring, my prayer is that you are seeking God in the things that happened this past year and keeping Him in the foremost of your mind as you look forward to this upcoming year.
Do you realize that God has given you specific gifts and roles that He prepared for you to do as He created you? Jeremiah 1:5 says: “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born, I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”
This applies to our lives also. He knew us, He formed us, He set us apart for ____________?
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 tells us that there is a time for everything. God uses all that has happened to us in our past to prepare us for all that He has waiting for us in our future. Whether those things are joyous or heartbreaking, we can trust Him.
Is He asking you to lay something aside, maybe a sin that you have been clinging to or maybe asking you to pick something up that you have not wanted to. Is He asking you to make a change in your life or is He asking you to stay in this “spot” that you desperately do not want to stay in? Maybe to simply be still in the place He has you. Sure, you should take the steps through the doors He opens (or step back from those He most certainly is closing.) Maybe He is requiring obedience in an area of your life you have not allowed Him to penetrate or to trust to Him that thing that you so desperately want? Whatever the situation, wherever you find yourself to be at this moment, allow Him the opportunity to show His mighty power as you trust that, in your obedience to Him, He will land you right where He has prepared for you to be; for your own good and His glory. What a relief to put all of your hopes and dreams and heartbreaks in the capable hands of the only One who holds your life.
As you find yourself reflecting back and looking ahead, take a moment to see where God’s hand has been in your life this past year. Then take another moment, as you are making your resolutions, to ask Him what HIS plans are for your life this upcoming year, where HE is leading you in those dreams and places in your life that you would like to go. Let this be a time of waiting and listening rather than jumping ahead.
I would love for you to share in the comments... What do you feel God is calling you to do in 2019?
May He bless you greatly, may you follow and trust Him more than ever before.
Happy New Year!