Happy 2025! Can you even believe it is here?
It sounds kind of funny to say it, but I’ve always found the number 25 to be intriguing and exciting. It’s not because age 25 stands out in my mind – I honestly couldn’t really tell you anything of great merit about it. But for some reason the idea of 2025 has me excited – and I’ll take it!
Get Excited!
So obviously we don’t need to wait until a specific year or date to get excited about life, but on the flipside, when a burst of enthusiasm heads our way we should grab hold of it and make the most of it!
Life can be routine and repetitive – busy or not – and lose a bit of appeal and sparkle. So it’s our job to create excitement and enjoyment that has us anticipating each day! In fact to read one translation of the Bible, it talked about how Paul waited with holy anticipation. Not just a passive, it-will-come-sooner-or-later mindset, but he was engaged and anticipating what was coming!
And that’s how each of us should live! If God is directing our steps and leading us, we can’t begin to fathom all that He has ahead for us! We should pray boldly and confidently and eagerly pursue where He directs. With God for us, who dare be against us?
Let’s Talk Goals
Goals are so much more fun to discuss when we are excited about life – that’s just a fact! If your hopes and expectations were up, what goals would you set? My goals are more ambitious when I’m excited about life and I bet yours will be too.
I was reading the other day that we should be sure that serving God well is the goal behind every goal. That makes sense to me, but I’m not sure I’ve thought to spell that out before. So when I set business and work goals, true the goal is to do better or take things to the next level, but it all is to represent God better. He isn’t looking for mediocre, average servants, but rather He delights in the good and faithful.
Carve out some quality time to pause and pray about what God has for you to do. I can only imagine how busy you might be, but make this a priority. If we can’t prioritize spending time with God, how can we expect Him to help us? He is the most important thing in our lives, but sadly, often the first neglected. Make seeking Him a priority and watch your life dramatically improve!
Knock on Doors
Sometimes goals and dreams can be tricky because we can’t figure out if they are ours alone or inspired by God. I get that and I think many people struggle with it. My best advice is to knock on doors. Pray really hard about the direction, pray for wisdom and clarity, and then take a step in that direction. Really listen to that response and pray for understanding on how to receive it. If a no, praise God for clarity and pursue something new. And then, take another step and lather, rinse, repeat.
Life can become stagnant because we let indecision and not knowing hold us back. But if we took a risk (within appropriate parameters, obviously), we could go so much further and perhaps accomplish more for God and His people. God is incredible about leading and directing. It is our job to follow His lead, even when we don’t have the full picture – that is where faith is developed!
So pause, pray, and make a list of what’s on your heart. Some things will be super simple and something you can accomplish if you merely invest the time. Others may just require self discipline and faithfulness, be willing to invest in those! And still other things will be huge and quite literally require a miracle. Pray about them and then follow God’s lead – after all, He is in the miracle business!
Our Best Year Yet
Not to sound cliche, but 2025 truly has the potential to be our best year yet! We serve a limitless God so we have every reason to anticipate things getting better and better, dreams coming true, new dreams being developed, answers to prayers, and miracles unfolding before our very eyes!
Let’s be sure that we step up and give our all where God has us, while also anticipating what He has ahead for us! God bless you and may this truly be your best year yet!
Happy 2025!
Hope.
PS. Keep reading: https://www.theamericanlady.com/2017/01/04/happy-happy-new-year/