2014 - The Year of ?

In my life, 2012 was the year of the impossible.  I saw God move in miraculous ways in our ministry and in our lives to make things happen that simply kept me amazed and praising all year long.  He proved to me that the ministry is His and He will provide all that is necessary to make it happen.

2013 was the year of – He cares for me.  Over and over when I came to points where I needed encouragement, uplifting, or comfort He came to my side and put His loving arms around me helping me to carry on feeling loved and cared for.

2014 is an unwritten chapter.  I’m not much of one for New Years resolutions, but I do look at a new year with anticipation.  I can see some things for 2014 already down the road.  I will be going stateside to see two new grandchildren – Lucy and Bentley – through April and May.  There are various ministry events already on the calendar and we will be working toward going for furlough toward the end of the year.  That means preparing to be away.  So sorting closets and paperwork and getting things better organized will be the major effort of the year.

I linked into another blog called Velvet Ashes, which prompted me to think about these organizing skills.  She had made a list of five principles she was going to live by this year.  1. Cultivate life-giving principles (spiritual disciplines) 2.  Eat and drink fresh, whole foods.  3.  Moderate consumption in all things.  4.  Active choices (putting physical work into chores and transportation) 5.  People and planet. (taking time to care for others and the environment)  I thought these were pretty good and I began to think about what principles would guide my year.

Then, the very next day my devotional book, Experiencing God by Blackaby, held this paragraph:

“The world operates on vision.  God’s people live by revelation.
The world seeks grand and noble purposes and goals to achieve.
People dream up the greatest and most satisfying things in which they can invest their lives.  Institutions establish goals and objectives and then organize themselves to achieve them.  God’s people function in a radically different way.  Christians arrange their lives based on the revelation of God, regardless of whether it makes sense.  God does not ask for our opinion about what is best for our future, our family, our church, or our country.  He already knows! ...The only way for you to know God’s will is for Him to reveal it to you.  You will never discover it on your own.  When you hear from the Father, you have an immediate agenda for your life: obedience.”

It put me back on my heels.  I did not need to set down and write a set of principles to live by - I already had a set!  I did not need to set down and try to plan out what would happen this year - God already has it planned out.  After spending the past two years proving Himself to me, why was I so anxious to launch out into my own ideas?  Not that choosing to eat right, or to exercise more, or to purposely care for others are bad choices, but, if I exercise Christian principles, those things will be a part of my life anyway.  If I want to see the hand of God in 2014, I need to simply obey what He has already given, and then let Him do the above and beyond things!  Those things that are exceedingly abundantly are His expertise!  My plans would be too small anyway.

So I was left with an unwritten chapter.  2014 has not been written yet.  It is full of prospect and full of hope.  I move forward with great anticipation to see the hand of God as He reveals his plan for my life.

How about you?