A Renewed Focus for the New Year

New Year’s resolutions have a bad reputation. So much so that my husband decided to start working out on December 31 last year to avoid quitting during 2019. I will say he was successful in his reasoning, but one day didn’t actually make the difference. His commitment to one day at a time with focus on his future goals did. 

As believers, we often find ourselves living with this temporary, humanistic view of time—we are impatient, frustrated in trials, lacking in perseverance, not living with eternity in mind, worrying, not trusting God for provision, or living in fear. Often, our goal is to make this life as easy as possible, not regarding the Lord’s greater plan and trustworthiness, and elevating our own desires above His authority. 

Grief has tempted me to live this way. In missing my baby, I ache so fiercely that, sometimes, I simply just want it to end. Grief brings on fear, worry, and a difficulty in trusting even a perfectly sovereign God with my life. It distracts me from eternity and feels so acutely problematic that a pain free future seems impossible. If only a New Year’s resolution could be to have a healthy baby—free from grief and pain. But no amount of resolve can bring this to fruition. 

I don’t mean to take away from the fresh outlook a new year brings to our lives. God’s Word does say, “Joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). But I do want to suggest that our days and years can be looked at from a bird’s eye view instead of simply in one year increments.

While I live in my narrow bubble of time that I feel restricts and detains my plans and desires, God has set up an unending framework—namely eternity—in which He welcomed all of humanity to be a part of. Notice how John describes our eternal life with present tense possession:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 (NKJV)

“Most assuredly, I say to you, He who hears My word and believers in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement, but has passed from death into life.” John 5:24 (NKJV)

The words John recorded teach us that, as believers, our eternity has already begun. We are now alive, no longer spiritually dead. We are not waiting for eternity to begin at death in the sense that we wait for a tree to possibly grow from seed if the conditions are right. We wait with pure hope in the knowledge that what has been promised will definitely come to fruition. This is the difference between a biblical hope and a humanistic worldview of hope. Jesus describes it this way: 

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NKJV)

He declared that truth with a present tense confidence that He had already overcome the world. What a great hope—one that we can absolutely rest in, not just for the new year, but forever! Even before Jesus walked the earth, God’s promise was indeed a present reality. In nearly the same breath as His rebuke of the serpent in Genesis 3, He declared His eternal purposes in Jesus: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” From the beginning, God has patiently allowed His perfect plan to unfold. He is not hasty in carrying it out, but implores His people to trust this promise of an eternity with Him even when they cannot see it.

Abraham, although past childbearing age, trusted God’s promise for descendants (Genesis 15:6). He didn’t live to see very much of his lineage, not knowing all that would come from His family—which ultimately led to the birth of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-16). Moses led the Israelites for years toward the Promised Land, yet died before he could enter it himself. Isaiah prophesied of the child that would have the government on His shoulders years before Jesus was born (Isaiah 9:6). David waited years in turmoil, dodging Saul before he donned the crown that God had already bestowed on him.

These heroes of the faith never saw the complete fulfillment of what was promised while on earth, yet they held to the promise as if they had. They exercised great faith over many, many years, having faith in a plan that, to this day, has still not come to complete fruition. 

I can’t promise January 1 will bring a lightening of your grief load or that the year will hold less pain and trial. Jesus never promised that either. But, He has promised so much that you can hold on tightly to every day of every year. Yes, the new year brings about a sense of renewal that I believe is a gift from God, However, it doesn’t bring about a new plan, but rather the continuation of what is already in motion. 

I pray this year we would lift our eyes upon Him, where peace reigns over our entire lives because we trust in His ultimate plans for eternity. Instead of New Year’s resolutions for perfect living, may we always resolve to let go of our own time constraints and live with the Lord’s eternal plan in focus. 

Father, when I place my mind’s focus on You, my worry fades away. Your intimate and intricate attention to detail over thousands of years shows me how dearly You care for Your creation. I pray that, as grieving mothers, we would cling to Your eternal promises like never before, that the assurance we have of our children being in Your grasp brings us comfort, and that Your promise of eternal life teaches us to live with eternity in mind through every trial. Please give us the power through Your Holy Spirit to be patient and persevere, and to lay our “Isaacs” down on the altar in surrender. I do pray You would bring relief to our aching hearts this year—for healing and redemption in our stories. Your story is not over, yet You’ve promised complete and ultimate redemption as if it were already done, so I pray we rest wholeheartedly in that truth with steadfastness. Lord we hold this year up to You with open hands. Amen.

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I am married to Justin and Hope Mommy to Anna Joy. We live in sunny south Florida where I love reading, writing, teaching, and just being with family & friends! I work in the hospital as a RN, and humbly serve as volunteer Nurse Manager at our local pregnancy resource center, Care Net. My personal ministry passions include leading women to deeper understanding of Jesus’ truth through their marriage struggles, sexuality, and miscarriage.

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