New Year, No plans.

On a more realistic note, it's 2015 and I haven't felt the impact of a new year as much as I do now. I can't help but think of the many people that are going into this New Year without a smile or a laugh, some are bracing themselves for the worst and yet others are extremely hopeful. I, myself, am on the fence. 

This is the time we decide to move on, make new plans, take new chances and make up our minds. A lot of the decisions we make are hard at this time, some are painful and extremely sad. Some of these decisions will prove to be extremely difficult to maintain as the months go by and hopefully most of them will get clearer, make more sense and get easier as we go along. Still we can't deny the fact that they are hard.

There are those, like me, who have no idea what to expect this New Year. I am hopeful for a lot of things though, some really big things (some require a miracle to happen). Maybe you're throwing your hands up so to speak and are saying something along the lines of 'God have your way'. You might not have a big decision to make, you might just be waiting, and still waiting, carrying some hopes and wishes over from last year. It's maddening isn't it? Because you have no idea if what you hope for could really happen! If you're a Christian, you're probably holding on to faith for dear life, believing God for the thing that he said he will do in your life. I'm with you there and sincerely pray that you're given the strength to hold on. One thing I've learned is to not let the voices around you (and sometimes in your head) keep you from believing. Thank God he is faithful, even when we're faithless, this is my only concrete expectation this new year.

If you lost something recently there's a Bible verse my dad would always share with me in the early days of my past break-up. In my case, I thought I had lost love and could never get it back again. He shared a verse with me from Hebrews 11:17. Abraham has a bad rep for being a terrible father by worldly standards, yet his faith was immense. This verse talks about his mindset for obeying God and killing his son (sounds horrible, but stay with me) it says "By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises (God made to him about being the father of many children) was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned" (then get this) vs 19. Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from the dead. 

Abraham believed God instantly when God told him to look up, count the stars in the sky and that will be the number of children he would have. After many years of not seeing this great miracle (because his wife was already past child-birthing age) and a bump on the road (trying to take matters in their own hands) God blessed him with one son from his wife, Isaac. Fast forward a few years later and God was telling him to sacrifice that one son. Thank God for eyes but sometimes we put unnecessary responsibility on them for determining our destiny. Just because you don't see it, or because you see something different than what was expected, doesn't mean that's where the story ends. That's why the Bible says to trust in the Lord with your heart and not rely on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:15) because sometimes will not see what he sees (most of the time actually). Abraham had so much trust and faith in God that he thought, well you said you would bless me with a son, so if you want him now, surely you would bring him back. Can you imagine how painful that must have been for him though? That climb up the mountain must have put him in some kind of way.

So tying this back to my original intent, my dad would always tell me to receive what was taken from me, back from the dead. He would tell me to have faith that love will return. I'm not saying it will come back from the exact same source but the faith I have towards a wonderful marriage, kids etc. will be fulfilled. The same message goes to everyone that has lost something or someone. I'm not even going to pretend like I know what you're going through but I do know that it could feel like the pain never ends and some days you may be fighting a losing battle with your emotions but still have faith. Receive happiness, joy, peace, love, laughter, fulfillment, hope, family, friendship and companionship back from the dead because God genuinely wants these things for us. 

If you're making a big decision this time of the year, or still living with a big decision you made last year. The same still applies to you, have faith, receive joy and hope. I recently saw a post that said 'There is no earthly solution for heavenly burdens. Come to God'. What are those Earthly burdens? from my experience they are intense feelings of loneliness that seem to come from nowhere, an incompleteness, a lack of joy, peace, fulfillment and a feeling that you're meant to be somewhere, doing something else than what you're currently doing. Usually they are followed by the question "is this all there is to life?" The answer is very simple and it's come to God. In your own way, on your own terms, exactly just as you are. 

I'm writing this and very much speaking to myself. I personally struggle with the 'how', how do I do these things? Then I run around trying to manually get them for myself and fall flat on my face. God comes again and tells me to trust him, be still, wait and be led by him. I'm reminded that his timing is perfect and in the meantime, deepen my relationship with him, read his word and let his spirit lead me. So if you're like me and everyone else is making New Year’s resolutions and you have no concrete plans or you have plans but they're less shallow and grittier than the usual. I hope this speaks to you in some way. 

Come to God.

Oh and the story about Abraham sacrificing his son, in case you didn't know, it has a happy ending. He ended up not killing his son. yay (?)