Are You Ready?
by Denise Cross
As we move forward into this new year you may, like me, have a diary already filled with all sorts of commitments and events. It could, so easily, seem that once these are written in the diary, we have our plan, and we’re in control of the year ahead. We’re ready. But the truth is we don’t really have a clue what the year will ultimately bring and how God wants to lead us in the coming months. We need to face the facts that there are almost certainly things ahead which are unknown to us at this juncture and this could make us fearful. We must always live with uncertainty, but God is never surprised by the things that can, so easily, catch us out. So, it’s encouraging to know that He’ll be with us and help us. But will we surrender to His will this year? Can we head into the year trusting in Him and being open to benefit from His help?
Several years ago, I was thinking about this challenge of trusting God for the year ahead, when I came across a simple little poem that made me stop and think about my heart attitude to my life. My plans and my schedule can be disrupted by others or by circumstances, but nothing will hinder God’s plans. I realised I just had to be willing to allow Him to truly be in control of all that the coming months might bring, the good and the much more difficult. It made me wonder if I could, in all honesty, echo the sentiment of Mary when she proclaimed to the angel that she would let God’s will govern her coming year rather than her own hopes, plans or expectations.
Ready to go, ready to wait,
Ready a gap to fill,
Ready for service, small or great,
Ready to do Your will.
Ready to suffer grief and pain,
Ready to stand the test,
Ready to stay at home and send,
Others if He sees best.
Ready to do, ready to bear,
Ready to watch and pray,
Ready to stand aside and give,
Till He shall clear the way.
Ready to speak, ready to think,
Ready with heart and brain,
Ready to start when He sees fit,
Ready to share the strain.
Ready to seek, ready to warn,
Ready o’er souls to yearn,
Ready in life, ready in death,
Ready for His return.
It challenged me then and it still challenges me today. Can we truly say ‘ready to do Your will’, whatever the year brings?
Prayer: Lord, I want to trust You for the year ahead and be ready to face the challenges it may bring in the way You want me to. I ask You, Holy Spirit, to work in my heart to bring me to that place of willingness to surrender all my carefully made plans to God’s perfect plan for me in 2019. Amen.
Denise Cross is married to David Cross and they have three grown up children and eight grandchildren. Denise was previously a Maths teacher and now delights to teach the Lord’s wonderfully logical truth. Her passion is to stir the hearts of passive believers to appropriate all the benefits of abundant life that our Heavenly Father freely offers to each of His children. Her book Rescue from Rejection has been appreciated by many people, in bringing clear answers to this challenging and widespread issue.
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