EXCITEMENT FOR THE UNKNOWN

Here we are, 2017!

I’m not a huge fan of the whole New Year’s resolution/”new year-new me” sort of thing, but as the new year has rolled in I have found that I have learned one of the most valuable lessons I think I will ever learn.

I am a planner. I like my minutes and hours and days and months and years all scheduled out so that nothing can go wrong (haha yeah right!). I like to know what will happen when and how things will change or how they will stay the same. But obviously, that’s not life. As I have gotten older, those qualities within my personality have tended to turn into fear and worry. In the past, because I wanted control of my future, two things would consistently happen. Firstly, I had a very difficult time finding as much joy in living in the moment as I used to. Focusing on the present is so much harder when you are constantly thinking about the future. And secondly, I realized that most of my thoughts were characterized by a lack of trust…by trying to take control I forgot how important it was to surrender my life to God and rest in His timing. But that’s not me anymore.

This year God is uprooting my way of thinking. And it is pretty awesome! One night as I was praying and thinking, I was hit with this realization:

Why on earth would I choose worry over excitement? 

Wait WHAT. I can actually be excited for the unknown? I can run after those huge question marks in the distance instead of running away from them? Who knew! I know that comes very easily for some people, but it never did for me until now.

Life is an incredible journey. It is full of ups and downs, big decisions and small ones, hard choices and easy ones, questions and answers, good times and bad times. But the absolute best thing about life is that it is an adventure! And Jesus has so freely blessed us with the opportunity to walk through it with Him…and blessed us with the freedom to CHOOSE how we are going to walk through it. This year, I choose to walk as one who knows that God’s got me. Cause He does. This year I choose joy, I choose trust, I choose excitement, I choose to leave behind all that pointless fretting that doesn’t help anyone or anything. I choose to remember God’s faithfulness and press into it even more. I am going to dive in and enjoy the ride! And I am excited! Life is a beautiful yet very short gift…I choose to love every second of it and embrace this big adventure.

Who’s with me?