When one year comes to end, we are always challenged to create goals and plans to make the next year even better! In fact, my husband and I came up with our motto for this year, “New Year, Better You!”
In 1994, I celebrated my very first New Year’s with my husband as we had gotten married in December. Being the poor, newly married and fresh out of college young couple, we chose to celebrate the New Year at our tiny 300 square foot apartment with just a cheese ball, crackers and a bottle of Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider. Armed with paper and pen, we began to dream about the possibilities the New Year held for us. Since then, we have made this our annual tradition.
As I anticipate this yearly tradition, the message that is currently resonating within me is Isaiah 43:18-19. God exhorts us to:
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.”
The promises of God contained in this passage are abundantly refreshing.
We are to:
- Move forward leaving our regretful past behind us. Our past does not have a hold on us.
- Eagerly anticipate and move forward into the new things God wants us to walk into.
- Receive from God’s abundant spring all that He wants to flow into us. Be aware. Look for how He is working in our lives.
- Welcome God to provide new pathways in circumstances even, and especially, where we think there is no hope.
As we walk into this New Year, go ahead and make your resolutions. Honestly, there is great worth in doing so. Yet, we can’t negate what is most important … to be aware of the new things the Lord wants to do in each one of our lives.
May we continue to live…
Rooted In Him,
