“You’ve got a new story to write and it looks nothing like your past.”
Toby Mac
We’re now a week into the new year and I’m still grateful that God gives us a “start over” each year. This quote on Pinterest set the tone for me: “Today is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one!” I love to read a good story, so my focus for 2019 is to write the best story ever.
I penned the following prayer on January 1, as I sat on the floor of our hotel room, trying not to wake my daughter with the light. Lord, thank You for this new year, the clean slate You give to us year after year, to write Your story on our lives. Each year You give us 365 pages to write “our” story. I want to write the best story ever with You.
What do You want this year to look like? Who do You want me to be or become? What part of Your nature do You desire for me to emphasize and display to the world? What is on Your heart that You want me to share with others?
I’m Yours and this next 365-page story is for You to write as You desire. Thank You for all You’ve done in 2018. I look forward to all You will do in 2019. Have Your way with my life and together, let’s write the best story ever!
My life is not my own to run. My heavenly Father possesses the key to my life and He is the driver, while I’m the passenger joining Him for the ride. What He wants and says for my life is of utmost importance.
Sometimes we don’t want to look ahead, because our heads are still turned around and focused on regrets in our past. We can’t embrace what God has next for us until we’ve laid the past to rest through the gifts of repentance and grieving loss. Isaiah 43:18-19 gives us encouragement and wisdom for the new year. “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 desert and streams in the wasteland.” As we ponder that truth, let’s covenant with God to write the best story ever for 2019.
“I suppose when we take on January 1 the world will look the same. But there is a reminder of the Resurrection at the start of each new year, each new decade. That’s why I also like sunrises, Mondays, and new seasons. God seems to be saying, ‘With me you can always start afresh.’”
Ada Lum
Relevant Reflection:
How can you partner with God to write the best story ever for 2019?
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