Happy New Year and welcome to 2022! I have been mulling over in my mind, some ideas I want to share with you this year. It is interesting to read my past blogs from 2021 and remember where I was at that moment. Looking into 2022, what I want more than anything, is to lay down my sword and say to our Lord, “The battle is yours.” I have fought all my life for what I have. I have fought for my security, my marriage, my home. I have fought for goals and jobs and friends and children. You will notice in this list, that I is the predominate word. I—have done this! This year, I want to hand over my “I” to Him, and give myself to Him, in humble dependence.

In making that public statement, I will challenge you, where does God rank in 2022 for you? We all make plans for the new year. Many of us make new year’s resolutions, but I would guess that most of those resolutions have been set aside before the light of February 1^st dawns. If you look back at this blog and read what I wrote one year ago, I can tell you that I still can’t run a mile. I am still fearful of the future. Yet, in 2021 I learned to study more, listen more and I feel my faith is stronger. 2021, my word of the year was “abide”. 2022, my words of the year will be “humble dependence”.

In James 4:13-16, James gives us a warning about leaving God out of our plans. “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” Be careful when making your plans and do not be presumptuous! We are not the masters of our fate or the captains of our soul. Instead, turn your attitude to the Lord, His control, His will, and where He would like your life to go.

In Ephesians, Paul writes to the church, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” It is true! Our lives are fleeting. We are fragile by nature. In the scope of eternity, our lives are just a breath, here in a moment, and gone in another. Yet, for those of us who follow Him, God has graced us with His Spirit, and we are expected to live a life that is pleasing to Him and in alignment with His will. Proverbs 3:5-7, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”

We do not know where this life will take us in 2022, but the Lord does! As you consider your plans and goals for this coming year, don’t be foolish by leaving God out of your equation. Put him at the top of your list. Make His will your goal for 2022. We are incapable and insufficient, but He is not! I know that it will be a struggle for me, but even in that battle, I know I am incapable of making this change on my own. I can only be successful when I remember that my dependence is only on His strength and not on my own. Dependence doesn’t equal weakness when you are placing your dependence in the creator of the universe! It will be by His strength and through His will where our lives will take us in 2022. I am eager to take the “I” out of the equation of my life and replace it with “Him”. I pray He will be the priority in your equation as well.