While I welcome the advent of a New Year, the platitudes and clichés that mark its passing often feel stunted and silly. After all, January 1 is just another day. There is nothing about the date that promises that we will be any different, or any more capable than the day before. Ours is a culture that tends to idealize colossal change at the turning of a page, putting great emphasis on perfectionist driven resolutions. But where is God amid our resolve? A disciple of Jesus is one who is willing to surrender it all at the foot of the cross-giving God access to and control of every circumstance, possession, relationship and every resolution.

My daughter is an avid planner always seeking to have the next five years mapped out in advance. Her calendar is meticulously color coded, and her goals are clearly defined and boldly outlined. While I admire her predisposition to plans and resolutions, my preference is quite the opposite. I have discovered, in God’s dealings with me over time, that I must live in utter dependence on Him for each step forward. What I have learned, as my plans and resolutions have taken twists and turns, is that we serve a wise and loving God who does all things well. In this choreographed dance of human existence, we mustn’t have everything figured out to move forward.

Today might we start fully surrendered to God in prayer, palms open and heart ready for the work that He promises to do in our lives. I will not bring Him my goals and resolutions. I simply lay my life before the Creator, full of doubts and failures, asking Him to simply finish the work He has already begun before I so clumsily got in the way. A new year is full of hope and expectation if we choose to lean into God seeking fully His leading in our lives. Remember how far God has brought you. Look back and see all that He has done in your life and give Him thanks. While I will admit to feeling a bit less accomplished given my aversion for resolutions, my aim today is to live in the abundance of life with the knowledge that every obstacle and mistake is purposed preparation for borderless trust in the One who is making ways in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The Creator of the Universe is doing something new, and our only responsibility is to race toward it, trusting every detail to Him, for He is unbound by our resolutions and expectations.

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” – Isaiah 43:19

This article was originally published in the January 2018 issue of The War Cry.