Outside my back gate, I can walk a hundred feet or so and be on a tree-lined path that leads to Lake Grapevine. This morning as I walked surrounded by the bare trees of winter, I thought of the beauty of this park in every season of the year, even when I don’t see flourishing green growth. As bleak as the trees looked today, they are preparing for renewal. As we complete 2020 and step into 2021, God’s renewal is on the horizon.
A friend of mine, Kylee Washington, wrote of this unexpected pandemic year: “Joy, laughter, togetherness…pain, grief, separation, each tied to the other, a juxtaposition of the life experience. As we felt our way through 2020, we found an expansion of our ability to hold opposing emotions, to stay present and grateful, to love deeper, discover what truly matters, and to know God is who He says He is.”
God is who He says He is! Because of His faithfulness, we welcome a new year with anticipation of new things for the future and continue to make plans and set goals with great hope, listening to the Lord about these things. When He speaks, we come alive inside. As we hear, receive and act on His word, we see new things emerge. But perhaps we also remember things we are still waiting to come to pass. For these things we have long awaited, we can also continue to anticipate, to hope and to know our hope will not be disappointed because his love has been poured out within our depths by His Spirit (Rom. 5:5).
God “calls into being that which does not exist” (Rom 4:17). You might sit with the Lord and consider these things:
What new things does He “call” for you that you can receive, nurturing by faith until they grow?
What existing dreams are you still holding before Him, waiting for their fulfillment?
What things do you need to put away as completed for the year.?
Romans 5:17 promises us that we “who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.” May this be a year where we even more fully receive the richness of this grace and the gift of righteousness freely offered that we may walk in victory and “newness of live.” He makes all things new!
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