What if we made New Year’s resolutions that really stuck? What if we used every year as a learning experience? A launching pad into the new year, armed with all this valuable knowledge with which to make the upcoming year so much better?
With the transition into every new year comes a time of reflection. We look back on the year before. Sometimes we bid it good riddance. Sometimes we’re sad to see it go. Other times, we look back with a sense of satisfaction and an attitude that it was a solid year, had its ups and downs (but thankfully more ups), and we came away with some good thoughts and lessons learned, stronger and ready to embrace the new year.
That last one…the sense of satisfaction? That’s me. The year 2014 brought me some healing, some hurting, and a lot of insight. I learned about myself and God…things He’s been waiting for me to learn. I sometimes imagine God up there rolling His soft eyes at me and sighing “do you get it now??” But He’s really too loving and patient for that.
I will humbly admit that I have trust issues and some of them are with God. I do trust Him, I really do and I’m resisting (with difficulty) putting a “but” right here. I trust the Lord, period. It’s me who is flawed. I’m the one who is fearful and anxiety-ridden…often. This year, 2014, has been my year of intentionally working to overcome that.
I can’t really sum up 2014 into one word but maybe into a few.
Breathe and linger simultaneously describe this year for me. I wanted to “just be”, linger in this space and breathe. In and out, in and out. Feel life and what it’s offering and what God is telling me. Be present and really pay attention to myself, my family, Jesus. Each one of these has something to tell me, teach me in its way.
Learning obviously is one of those words. I’ve learned that God really wants amazing things for me, for all of us. Many of us have a selfless nature. I know I do. I want my family to have nice things and wonderful opportunities. But I wouldn’t think of asking for them for myself. That would be selfish, right? No, it isn’t. God wants those nice things and wonderful opportunities for ALL of us so it’s okay to agree with Him on this and ask for them for ourselves.
“I can give things over to Him and let Him keep them!”
I’ve also learned, as I mentioned, that I can give things over to God and let Him keep them. This has been very difficult for me to do for many years. Several things have happened that were out of my control that profoundly affected me (the loss of my parents, among others things), and I think that loss of control in those situations caused me to believe I had to control other circumstances. It was a security sort of thing. If I could control it or fix it, then disaster wouldn’t strike. So instead of immediately praying when a concerning situation arose, I’d react with action instead. I needed to fix it and do it now, find an answer to whatever “it” was, and I was the only one who could accomplish this.
As you may have guessed, that’s not really true. Certainly, I could solve some situations, but by and large, I would have saved myself a great amount of fret and sleepless nights had I left these concerns at Jesus’ feet like He tells us to. He’s got this, all of this! And though I may have been able to tackle a certain issue, seeking His will and guidance first most surely would have been the better idea.
This coming year, 2015, has great promise. I know now that I can ask for the big things and be wonderstruck by God’s amazing blessings. He wants to bless us and I’ve decided not to be shy about asking Him to do just that. I’m sure there will be challenges. Even as I sat down this morning to create this post with such enthusiasm and optimism, ready to infuse into you the very hope and dreams I feel so excited about for the new year, stumbling blocks started to fall in my path.
This coming year, 2015, has great promise.
Not one but two of the very situations that would previously cause me to backslide and begin to panic and fret sprung up today. And that was on top of one situation that already existed. I don’t know how they’ll turn out. They’re home repairs and that’s not usually something you look forward to singularly much less when three things happen at once. However, I stepped back. I asked a few close friends to pray about those situations and although the hope for easy resolution remains in the back of my mind, I have fought back reverting to old behaviors.
I prayed. I reminded God (as if He’d forgetten!) that I have no control over these situations. He however has total control and I asked that He please resolve them for us, easily if He didn’t mind. Now I wait. I wait for resolution and pray for peace. I give God the power and I give Him the glory as well because I know the plans He has for me are for good. I know that He will work all things together for good.
I know that He has amazing adventures planned for me and I have huge endeavors for this new year He is blessing me with. I want to be open and ready for the blessings and opportunities that will make their way to me and mine this upcoming year.
What are your hopes and dreams for 2015? What big plan would you like to finally see come to fruition? In what way can I pray for that to happen for you?
