NEW YEAR, NEW GOALS, RENEWED HOPE

The beginning of January invites us to evaluate our lives, to check in with our hearts, and to really think about how we are investing our time. It offers grace to press the restart button on our lives and offers us the chance to do things differently. What New Years resolutions have you made for 2014? Do these resolutions feel impossible or doable? What is it going to take to stick like glue to these goals?

We have some serious goals going on in our house and some funny ones…like…I am going to try to get the kids bathed every day…sounds ridiculous but I know many mommies of little ones understand that sometimes in the busyness and exhaustion of daily life, getting kiddos to bed sooner rather than later trumps a bath! My middle little guy’s resolution (or the one we made for him!) is to stay in his own bed all night, every night – so far it is working thanks to a little bribery – stickers and a piece of candy after breakfast – whatever works right? He comes running down the stairs in the morning, his face all lit up, and he is just so happy that he stayed in his bed…that he did it! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of him too!

So much of the New Year revolves around losing weight and exercising. I think it is awesome and important, but I want to encourage those of you that have new eating plans….hunger and fullness! (can I get an amen from my sisters, mom, and hubby!) Whatever your plan, overeating will not decrease the number on the scale. The book Thin Within by Judy Halliday and Arthur Halliday really goes into detail about how you can maintain your God given size without cutting out your favorite foods or going to extreme measures. God offers grace, a way – and it’s the most freeing plan ever! I also have an older post about my personal story with this issue….http://instepwithoursavior.com/2013/03/01/gods-design/

Sometimes setting New Year’s resolutions overwhelms me, just the thought of them because there are so many things I want to do better or change. As I write that, a cloud of dread washes over me because a lot of my goals may not be practical in this season of life for me. I am a dreamer, and I come from a family of dreamers and believers in Christ. I often struggle with questions like, “Is this my dream or idea or is this God’s?” Do you ever feel that way? Well, I haven’t got it all figured out, but one thing I am learning…

When you are a child of God and have accepted Christ as your Savior, Something powerful moves into your heart…the Holy Spirit…that is…Jesus’ Spirit now lives in YOUR heart. So, when you have that little prick in your heart, a gentle nudging, or just a sense of what you need to do or where you need to go….listen to it. Do you hear it? Do you feel it? Have you experienced this verse…do you want to experience it…. “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.'” Isaiah 30:21

For the longest time, I battled a restlessness inside me…it was like an itch I could not scratch…it would frustrate me quite honestly. I thought it was a bad restlessness….maybe I was just being discontent with my life and I should try harder to be content. So I would try and forget about it and bury it…it was uncomfortable angst…but while it felt dark, it always led me to just sit with God and wrestle with it. It might last one day, or it might last months. I couldn’t shake it. The emotion of it would often come out eventually in a burst of tears and venting to my sweet husband, mom, or sisters…I was weary of these cycles. Then one day, my mom said something that completely changed my outlook on these restless episodes…she simply said something like this….“Sometimes it might be the Holy Spirit…”

This stopped me in my tracks. Could it be that this restlessness was really the Holy Spirit, God Himself, trying to get my attention?

God’s Word says,

“I will lead the blind by ways they have not know, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” Isaiah 42:16

Could it be that He was trying to show me what the next step is? Trying to nudge me in the right direction? Trying to lead me to a path that will be more peaceful than the one I am on? “Guide our feet in the path of peace.” Luke 1:79 I am pretty sure I jumped up and down and did a little victory dance in our study when I realized that this might be what all the restlessness was about!

But, I also realized that there are things like hormones, fatigue, emotions, and hello Satan – this is all an awful combo – that will try and deter me from the holy nudging in my heart. 1 Peter 5:8 warns us, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Add to that the noise and distraction of the world – information overload from social media, pressure from to-do lists, etc….that discreetly take over our minds and our hearts so that we cannot hear or feel the Holy Spirit’s nudges.

So as I learned from my mom that my wrestlings (I may have made that word up) could be from the Holy Spirit, I realized there are some practical things I can do in order to create space and room to hear them!

Little things like…

~ I need to exercise otherwise I get emotional and stressed and when I am emotional and stressed, I can’t hear God.

~ I need to occasionally and daily go dark from all things technology related, otherwise I have so much information in my head that I certainly don’t have room for God’s thoughts and guidance.

~  I need to be present, to let go of the phone, the computer, the piles of laundry, the need for perfection in my house or my appearance, in order to laugh with my children, joke with my hubby (he’s funny yall!), have fun, and watch sunsets because God is in these moments.

~ And most importantly, I need to hang out with Jesus by myself. I need to read His Word so that it is the strongest influence in my life. I need to go on walks and pour out my heart to Him – tell Him my concerns and really pray because He moves when we pray. And I can talk to Him about those restless nudges I feel and He can help me sort them out.

These restless nudges…if we take time to seek God when we have them, He will lead us on the path He created us for.

So, if there is anything I want you to hear as you begin the new year, it is this…

Listen to the restlessness of your heart, and seek Him to find out if it is Him that is doing the nudging.

I encourage you to go to a coffee shop or a somewhere you can be completely alone and have a date with God. Talk to Him and write things down. Let His company calm the restlessness.

Praying for you, dear reader. Blessings in the new year!