As I reflected over the hardships of last year I am not left with a bitter taste in my mouth with a voice of "good riddance to 2011!" echoing in my head. Instead I am filled with praise and a thankful heart as I remember how God faithfully provided for me and my family. Through my daughter's Emily's heart surgery, my Mother in law's breast cancer and chemotherapy, through navigating my first year as an Elder in my church, starting up another women's Bible Study group, my eldest daughter starting school, continuing theological study, God has been with me in it all revealing how he truly is my Jehovah Jireh.
Sometimes it was his peace he provided as fear was threatening to swallow me; sometimes it was courage to trust him when life seemed too hard and dark; sometimes it was strength to take the next step and not to listen to my own doubts. The end result, is that Christ changed me in 2011 and I so thankful for that.
So what about 2012? This passage from 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 got my attention. Read this :
Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it! (1 Corinthians 9:19-23 MSG)
2012 isn't a list of tasks or jobs to be ticked off a list but the time to do all my ordinary stuff with my "bearings in Christ" entering into people's lives for the purpose of showing them Christ's love. I should be willing to go to all places and reach all types of people in order to share the message of Christ's saving love. I am to be more that just a talker of salvation but to be in on it and live it. What a challenge! The hint to that Paul gives us in order to be out there witnessing is to keep our bearings in Christ. Oxford dictionary (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/bearing?region=us) defines bearing as "the direction or position of something, or the direction of movement, relative to a fixed point". Christ is our fixed point, our anchor. To help me keep my bearings in Christ I will,
- continue with my reading through the Bible plan I started 12 months ago and am halfway though it. Also journal as I go so I will concrete new understanding and insights that I gain
- Focus on praying with notice to pray for opportunities to share Christ with people who do not know him yet.
- Continue theological study
- Allow accountability for people to help me keep my bearings in Christ
So I stand at the precipice of 2012 excited and ready to fly with what God asks of me. Don't get me wrong, I am not perfect or great but God promises
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
Lets trust God in our weaknesses so that his grace is shown to others. What does 2012 hold for you? Are you willing to follow Christ this year?
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