Happy New Year

Embracing a new year isn't for the faint of heart.  Embracing the beginning of a new date on the calendar requires a letting go of what has occurred during the last 12 months.  You can't look backward and try to move forward.

There are things that have taken place on 2018 calendar dates that I'd rather soon forget.  They brought me pain.  In order to neatly file away the past in a way that brings health, I've got to deal with the hurt.  Dealing with those things that shook my foundation is critical.  I've learned that I tend to deal with transition in two ways:  I mourn ahead of time or I look back afterward with longing for what could/should/might have been.

Walking with Jesus and utilizing the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, I'm learning that mourning ahead of time is a waste.  For months, I anticipated what saying goodbye to my beloved Vienna might look like.  I cried.  I was sad.  I held on to a passing event way too long.  Now, looking back from this side of the transition, it was all OK.  God had spoken some very clear promises to us ahead of time that we held on to during the goodbyes.  Yes, it was hard.  Yes, it didn't feel good.  But, yes, we transitioned experiencing HIS presence.  He was what made it all OK!

How?  When I cried, I also remembered a promise that He would be with us in our new place.  When I held on to an event too long, I remembered that in Him there is always more to come.  He pursues me with good and loving kindness and I don't have to hold on to the present joy for fear another joy won't come.  That's not His character.  More joys, more than I can think or image, will come.  He is a good and trustworthy Father!

Embracing a new year also requires vision and expectation.  However, sometimes our eyes lack the 20/20 perspective we need to see clearly and we expect things that are unrealistic.

We have a vision of a place called Fahrenheit House.  It will be a place we live, we office out of for our nonprofit, and we host those who come for refuge and restoration.  In my head, I've had a specific place in mind.  Well, that place has a contract offered on it.  Looks like it may not be the place I had so clearly, with limited 20/20 vision, expected would be ours.  However, I am refocusing.  Perhaps another house is Fahrenheit House.  Perhaps a personal home with a side home for nonprofit and refuge use is part of a plan.  Perhaps ... something else.  Because things did not turn out like I thought I had a clear picture of (20/20 from my perspective) doesn't mean God got it right and I got it wrong.  It means I don't have all the information.  It means God is still so very good and I get to walk with a Father who will direct my steps, who will guide me and give me direction, and who will never leave me or forsake me!

I am expecting things for 2019.  However, it would be unrealistic to think that all things will be good, all things will be rosy and wrapped in pretty packages and filed way with neat and tidy outcomes.  Hogwash.  Whatever comes to me in 2019, it will come to me, allowed by a good Father for my good, not to harm me.  He has already provided an answer and a blessing for my obedience in whatever comes my way.  In the meantime, I am learning to savor today.  Today is the reality.  Today is the promise.  Today I will learn and live and act toward whatever He is doing.  Tomorrow is not promised. He is here today.  He will be there tomorrow.  He was in yesterday.  When I center my expectations, reflect on the past and look forward to the future through the lens of His presence ... specific details seem to be less important.  It's the relational one-on-one that raises as most important.

I'm not going to pre-mourn.  I'm not going to hold on too tightly to the good.  I'm not going to try to figure it all out.  I am going to stay in today.  I am going to trust His word.  I am going to react through His promises and not the reality.  I am going to trust that whatever I will walk through, He has gone before me and has made a way for me to walk through it.

May we all become more like Him.  May we dare to trust Him in ways we've never trusted before.  May we all see His hand in our days.  And may we be courageous enough to boast of the things He has done at the end of 2019!

Happy New Year,
Christina