New Year Resolutions & Prayers

Every year, we look at January 1st as THE day to commit to change. A resolution is really a declaration to kick a bad habit or make a lifestyle change. "This is the year I will really lose weight, quit smoking, return to school, finish a project, organize my life."

Really? How significant are those things, really?

I ask these questions because I lived years, making ridiculous resolutions for each new year, never fully committed to them. We all do it. Hence, the quote, "Resolutions are meant to be broken." After flailing around, year after year, with these empty promises and commitments, I really had to search my heart for significance. I was so tired of not making my resolutions work! I was so hungry for relationship and belonging at the time. We all need authentic relationships that will enrich our life. My soul was not at peace and hungered for these bonds.

Reality was I had never found a church home after my surrender to Christ. My friends were not Christians, either; quite the contrary. Oh, I had witnessed God's divine interventions and encounters with the Holy Spirit. What I was trying to do throughout these years was to go about it alone. As I clung to my faith, the devil had a great time luring me back into the outlaw biker culture. I had fallen into all the darkness which was so very familiar to me in my childhood years. So, here I was, once again, experiencing emptiness and turmoil in my soul. Yet, I had accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior some dozen years earlier.

What is missing? That is the question I had to ask myself.

The longing for relationship was God calling me to a true relationship with Him. I didn't understand what that meant, so I prayed to Him. In prayer, I realized I was not equipped with the teachings in his Word. This was essential in moving from simply having faith into a mutual relationship with Him.

The attitude of our heart determines what is important in our life. If God is important in our life, we will want to seek treasures in heaven. So why should we make worldly pursuit our focus? Make God your focus, and you will find that he will abundantly bless you and meet your every need. It all begins when we learn to put God first. So, my resolution for the New Year was to seek fulfillment of the spirit, rather than appeasing my flesh. This meant to put God first in every single thing I put my hands and feet to. He was the missing relationship I so desperately needed. He was also longing for me to share my life with him, first and foremost.

"God, I will do everything to realize what it means to have an intimate relationship with you. I want to understand. I want to experience everything in you. ~ Amen"

There was also a second part of my resolution for the New Year. After years of isolating myself from many cherished friends and relatives, I made a promise to myself to find a few people who meant the world to me. My prayer to God was pretty direct about reconnecting with three friends, specifically.

Since then, Jesus has loved on me, pursued me, protected me, and manifested in ways more powerful than I'd ever seen. He is first. I am second...in everything. To finally know Him is the loveliest feeling and He continues to draw me into a deeper relationship every day.

All of those friendships I prayed for were also restored. God did not stop at the three people I prayed for. Other friendships were redeemed, all from different seasons of my life. One friend returned to my life after over thirty years without any form of contact. Of course, the Lord restored only significant relationships. His hand and his handiwork is in the midst of every one of them. I see it and embrace it. They are each here in my life for a purpose He has masterfully orchestrated.

What more could I possibly want to commit to, other than pursuing those things God calls me to? It is Him I live for and serve. When we put God first, everything else is taken care of, in His timing.

My prayer for all my family and friends is that each of you will come to know Jesus as you Lord and Savior. If you already do, lean into what He has for you in 2010. May you always trust that God will meet you wherever you are at and always has your best interest in his heart. He is the lover of your soul and continues to pursue and guide His children. Friends, may our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, fill your heart with His love through the power of the Holy Spirit, the giver of life.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." ~ Matthew 22:37