Choosing To Trust, Growing In Faith: Preparing For The New Year With His Word
It’s two days after Christmas, the presents have been opened, Silent Night has been sung, my extended family has returned back home and I continue to reflect upon the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Without Him, there would be no joy to celebrate, no faith to build, nothing to trust in, and no peace to be had. Sitting here writing this, I have a new perspective on the post-Christmas time. Yes, I am sad that Christmas is over, but I also rejoice because I get to celebrate Him and what He has done every time I sit down in His presence and grow closer to Him. I also get to ponder the New Year ahead and all that He has in store for me. As I do so, I can’t help but reflect on the year behind me and everything He has accomplished in my life, including building my faith.
You may have heard of this concept before, “Word for the Year.” I have been doing this for the past several years and I want to invite you into my last two years. Two years ago, I had just moved to Colorado and the Lord gave me an amazing word, yet scary when you think about it. He gave me the word trust. Initially, I thought, “Oh, I am going to trust God with everything this year and it is going to be great.” But, in my heart, I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, especially as I like to control my world and let anxiety and worry rule my mind.
I knew the Lord had so much for me in the year 2021 and it required me to believe He was worthy of placing my trust in and releasing my grip on everything so He could do so much more with it. Trusting that He had every single decision I had to make, every outcome I didn’t know yet, and new things I didn’t even know were going to happen. I knew He was going to take me on that journey of trusting Him because I need to trust Him for the rest of my life. And I needed to trust Him in order to build my faith.
Jeremiah 17:7 (ESV) says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.” God wanted to take me on a journey where I not only trusted Him with everything but that Jesus was my trust. Every day, I had to physically open up my hands and release control of my world and in exchange receive Jesus as my trust, knowing that He had everything. Even though 2021 is in the past, it will always be a lifelong journey of continuing to trust God.
As for 2022, I knew I heard Him clearly when He said He was going to increase my faith. I thought to myself, “Hmm, He’s been teaching me to trust Him so that He can build my faith. That makes sense.” But, I also knew it was going to be scary and challenging again. I knew it meant continuing to give up control of my world and having faith in a God who I can’t see but I know is so so good.
This year, I continued in my school, went on a couple of trips with my family, and then moved from Colorado to Wyoming. Those may seem like simple things to have faith in God for, however, for a girl who struggles with some anxiety, these were big deals. For each of these moments, I had to trust God and have faith in Him that He is who He says He is and that He was going to provide for me the way He promises to. I had to have faith that He was going to make a way for work to allow me to be with my family on special vacations, that He was in control of my time when it came to working on school and completing classes, and that He would provide the perfect job for me as well as a place to live when moving to Wyoming. God showed me that He was faithful in all of it.
“Caitlin, have faith that I have your best interest in mind, that I have good plans for you, and that I will provide for you,” He would tell me.”
Now several months past those decisions, I can’t help but see God’s hand in every single thing this past year. What I see so amazingly is how He has rewarded my faith and persistence to finish out my season in Colorado. He provided me with a job where I have my faith in common with my nanny family, something I have not experienced before. He has rewarded my faith in Him when it comes to school by showing me that I have what it takes to pass content knowledge exams for student teaching and that His timing is so much better than mine. He has rewarded my faith by showing me that it is important to take this time with my family while I can, whether it be in Florida or in the comfort of our home and He will provide for that time off.
I am still on this journey of growing my faith and I will be on this journey for the rest of my life. These past two years have certainly been concentrated on those areas of growth, and I am so thankful that He continues to put me in situations where He causes me to trust Him and rely on my faith in Him that He is good and He is God.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope,” says Romans 15:13a (ESV). In believing…in trusting, in having faith, that is when we will be filled with joy and peace and the power of the Holy Spirit will cause us to have hope in the God that is worthy of our praise, of our trust, of our faith. He will carry us through these moments of growth so we can become more like Him.
As you prepare for the New Year and find yourself in those moments of silence in God’s presence…whether it’s sipping coffee while sitting under the warmth of your favorite blanket or doing the dishes that seem to never be done, ask God for the word He may have for you in 2023. Ponder the challenges of 2022, the moments of victory, how you have grown in God and how He has provided for you. That alone will build your faith as it has mine. Be challenged to go a little deeper and prayerfully ask God to prepare your heart for what He wants to do in your life this coming year. That’s the beauty of these following days. Dream, pray, and listen to what He is speaking to your heart. I guarantee you it’s going to be good.
