Old Year's Resolutions
As my husband and I were cross country skiing through the north woods this past weekend, we were talking about the areas God has called us to serve him this past year and all the new ideas where we could see ourselves serving him in the future. I’m not going to lie, the fresh ideas and untread waters of new adventures for God sound way more exiting than recommitting and focusing on places where God has already placed us. As we were talking we both realized how easy it is for us to want to move on, change coarse and look for new ways to serve God, rather than grind through the struggles of the day-to-day realities of things like foster care, youth ministry, parenting and blogging. Unfortunately, we are the product of our culture. A culture that is obsessed with new, exciting, short-term commitments. But easy, fun and and exciting don't match up with the lifestyle God calls his Church to live.
When we look at God in the Bible we see that his timing is completely his own. Think of how long it took him to bring forth the Messiah who had been promised from the fall of Adam and Eve! Thousands and thousands of years of waiting and waiting for the "time to fully come". If it had been up to us, Jesus would have come the very next day or perhaps the next week. But God's ways are not our own. Or think about Joseph and how many years he spent in different situations in Egypt before God raised him up as second in command to Pharaoh. God shows us over and over throughout the Bible that he is a patient God who knows the perfect timing for everything. What he asks us to do is to persevere and be faithful until that timing is revealed and his purpose is made complete through our faithfulness.
So be encouraged! God doesn’t call us to preserve and hold out for the long run for no reason. We know from the Bible that if we hold on to his promises and push through, especially when it is hard, monotonous or frustrating that God tells us he will bless our efforts!
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. - Hebrews 10:31-32
So out in the crisp clarity of the cold winter day, surrounded by no distractions and the beauty of God’s awesome creation, we both challenged each other to recommit and press on where God has put us right now. It may be the less exciting route, but we know in our hearts that it is what God calls us to do.
So what about you? Are you willing to join us this New Year with an intentional look back rather than moving on and looking towards the “next thing” in the new year? How can you recommit and persevere in those areas God has already placed you?
Will you join us in praying for eyes of faith to see beyond the frustrations and monotony of the daily struggles to see the movement of God and the purpose of his plans? Will you join us in praying for renewed strength to push through and to keep reading the pages of your Bible so that you can hold tight to God’s promises no matter what?
Let's not escape or move on from where we've been put this last year, but let's recommit to keep fighting the good fight of faith!