2024: Give It All to God

Here we are at the beginning of another brand new year! I have had a wonderful two weeks off from work, and though seven more days of time at home with my family does sound amazing, it’s time to get back out there and see what can be accomplished in 2024!

Entering this year has my thoughts wrapped up in letting go of the past and taking hold of the future. Do you sort of “gear up” for a new year? I didn’t do it much when I was younger, but within the last ten years, I began to feel just how short our time is here on earth, which caused a shift in my thinking. 

Psalm 90 talks about this very thing. It begins by speaking of the eternal nature of God, and then contrasts it with the brevity of human life. We begin as dust, and in the blink of an eye, to dust we return. 

When we are young, our days and years spread out endlessly before us. Once they have passed, we remember our youth and the tiny hands of our children like we just held them yesterday. Even if we lived to be a thousand years old, the question in our hearts would still be, “How did it all go by so quickly?” (v. 4)

It is for this reason that we must “number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (v. 12). 

Numbering Our Days

Proverbs31.org defines “numbering our days” as, “pausing for regular consideration of our days in light of God’s ways – recognizing the finite gift of our lives here on earth and… [stewarding] what God has given us.” (Simons, Ruth Chou. May 18, 2023. Numbering Our Days with Hope.) 

In other words, PAUSE to consider your life, RECOGNIZE how short your time is, and STEWARD, or take good care of, what God has placed in your life. 

• How long will our children be with us? How can we love them, shepherd them, and raise them up well in the short time that we have left? How can we help them not just find God, but follow Him?
  
• What dreams has God given us for our lives? What steps can we finally take to achieve those dreams? How can we begin today?
  
• How can we better steward our time and resources? How can be take better care of ourselves, our homes, and the people around us?

We were made for so much more than we realize…

This exercise of numbering our days can result in thankfulness for all the Lord has done for us. It can lead us into higher purpose and better time management. It can help us move forward in completing the good works God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

My Tiny Plate

In 2023, we walked through some big, scary changes… like our middle son moving to college, and my husband’s lay-off that ended in a wonderful new job.  We also faced many challenges, like the months-long journey of our daughter’s pinched sciatic nerve and complete ACL and meniscus reconstruction surgery. 

When it comes to changes and challenges, I’m sure you can relate…

When our already active lives are disrupted by injury, illness, loss of employment… coupled with the struggles our kids may go through, and many other circumstances… we can feel heavily burdened, stressed out, even crushed! 

This is when I remind myself that my plate is tiny, but God’s plate is HUGE! He is the Burden-Bearer, not me (1 Peter 5:7, Psalm 55:22). I begin to purposefully and meticulously, through journaling or prayer, take every last stressful burden OFF my tiny plate, and put it on HIS.

PRAYER FOCUS: I’m not big enough to worry about all of these things, Lord. This is too much for me! Please take these burdens off of my tiny plate and place them onto Your own. Help me to see things Your way, through Your eyes and through Your Word. Help me to know what to do. I release it all to You and I REFUSE to worry about it, in Jesus’ name.

Scripture References: Psalm 55:22, Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Peter 5:7

During stressful times, or when I am overwhelmed or intimidated by what seems like a mountain of burdens, I often wake up in the morning with anxious feelings of dread. The only thing that helps me in those moments is to sit down and spend time with the Lord. Do you practice this, as well?

1. Pray first. “Lord, Your presence makes me feel BOLD and CONFIDENT. Please come sit with me this morning so I can give my burdens over to You. Only in Your strength am I truly free.”
   
2. Put on Worship Music. Listen to the lyrics and make them a prayer to God. Let them help you connect with His Spirit, who is with you always. He never leaves you nor forsakes you.
   
3. Keep a Journal and Keep Praying. Whether you write it down or speak it out, be HONEST with God. Don’t just keep it inside and power through. Be vulnerable with Him. Be real. When you pour your heart out to God, putting everything on the table, no matter how ugly it may be, then He will help you sort it all out. He won’t force you to come to Him, but He is always holding out His hand in hopes that you will. His door is always open. Don’t wait. Do it today. You won’t regret it.
   
4. LET IT GO. Sometimes this is our biggest problem. We have to WANT to let go of the burden. We have to DETERMINE in ourselves to let it go. No matter how much we pray and give things to God, it is our own stubbornness and self-will that forces those burdens back onto our own heads when we will not let them go. It’s our choice… and it can be a hard one to make, especially when being in control of things has always made us feel safe. Even though it’s hard, trusting God is where our freedom lies. 

Free for Freedom’s Sake

As one who lived a long time with depression, anxiety, and panicky feelings… and then lived without them for more than a decade… the circumstances of life do their best to drag me back to those old, familiar chains. But one thing I can tell you for sure, I refuse to go back! Oh, I might get down and start leaning on that old door, but I will not stay there for long… lest the door open and I fall back in… God forbid.

I HATE those feelings. I cannot live like that, and you don’t have to, either.

With every memory of those heavy old chains comes flashes of hope and the light of Christ that saved me all those years ago… so I cry out to Him once more. “Set me free, O Lord, set me free. Take this burden from me, show me the way out, help me to see things Your way!“

I remember that old life. I distinctly remember what that former prison felt like. If you are there today, my heart breaks for you. The enemy is full of lies, and God has so much more for you than you know. I pray that God allows you to see, through His Word and by His Spirit, that the work of Christ has already broken your chains and opened your prison doors. All you have to do is stand up and walk out (1 Peter 2:24, Galatians 2:20, John 10:10).

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1

New Beginnings

This new beginning of 2024 is a time to put away all the stresses and circumstances of last year and take hold of what God is doing now.

If we faced failure last year, then we cannot let it get us down and make us quit. We must allow every experience to grow us up and move us forward! What can we gain? What can we let go of? How can we succeed even when we have faced disaster? 

We might have to stand confidently before our adversaries… or humbly before those we have hurt… and let God reform us before their eyes. This will be difficult, but one thing is for sure, if we trust in God, He WILL turn everything around for our good, and for the good of those around us.

Just let it all go… give it all to God… and keep moving forward. 

You won’t regret it.

But forget all that—
    it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. 

Isaiah 43:19