This past week social media was filled with people who could not wait for 2016 to be over.
I get that, I have had a few years like that myself, but 2016 wasn’t one of them. While it certainly had its challenges, I felt God was very good to me this past year. I experienced more healing emotionally than I realized and find myself in a more peaceful place these days.
As the year came to an end and we faced a new year, I did a lot of soul searching as many do at this time of year.
I decided I wanted 2017 to be a much greater year for me and I realized if that is what I want, then I need to make some changes.
I am a firm believer in the Bible and I believe it when it says we reap what and where we sow. If I want to reap more in 2017, then it stands to reason that I will have to sow more in 2017.
Now, I am not just talking financial increase, although that is a part of it, I am mainly talking about an increase in my spiritual walk.
I felt that in the past few years I have been in survival mode much of the time. Fighting to survive loss and disappointments that were almost crippling… almost… but God.
I don’t know about you, but I want out of survival mode and I choose to enter, this day, into thrive mode.
As I was pondering all this over the weekend, I thought about how I was raised. I, and my three sisters, were raised by a single Mom. She was awesome and I wouldn’t trade my Mom for any other Mom. That being said, the main thing she taught her ‘girls’ was survival. My sister and I were talking about that very thing recently.
While it is certainly good to be able to survive, that’s not God’s best. While being taught survival helped me to weather some of the storms of the past few years, I want out of survival mode. And I want out now.
These are the things that are on my heart as I said goodbye to one year and hello to another.
Therefore, I ended 2016 by giving to the Lord financially. I began 2017 by, again, giving to the Lord, and to those who had ministered to me. Why? Because I believe in the law of sowing and reaping. If I want to reap more, I sow more.
And, I spent my last day of 2016 in the presence of God and in His word. I spent the first day of 2017, in His word and in His presence. You see, I intend to go into this year correctly, strongly and I intend to finish this year stronger than I began it. But if that is to be true, then it starts with me.
We can’t put ‘nothing’ in and expect things to change. What is that saying ‘insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?’
If you were not happy with 2016… change it. God has given us His word, His authority and everything we need to live the life that Jesus died to give us, but the rest is up to us.
His promises don’t automatically manifest in our life just because we read them in the word or someone tells us about them. They enter into our life because we read/ hear them, we believe them, we receive them and we stand in faith until we see them manifest in our life.
Don’t get me wrong. God’s promises are truth and they are available to all of us. However, not all of us are walking in them and few of us walk in all of them. So, what needs to change? We do. We WILL REAP WHERE WE SOW.
That’s what I want you to think about today. Do you want some things to change? Change them. Do you want to reap more spiritually? Sow more spiritually? Do you want to reap more financially? Sow more. God is not mocked. Whatever we sow, that will we reap.
Today is January 2nd. I again sowed into my spiritual walk today and into my relationship with God AND all day long I felt the effects of that time of sowing….I am already seeing results. Our God is so very faithful.
My wonderful friends, it is time to come out of survival mode and begin to thrive in God. It’s MY YEAR TO THRIVE, will you join me?
