Happy New Year everyone! 2023 is here. As we may reflect on the past and look forward to what’s ahead, we really only have today. And God’s Word tells us again and again, He is doing “new things”! As our focus and guidance come from the Lord, may we all be joyful in the new things He has for us in this season to bring Him the glory He so deserves. God bless!
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Welcome to Celebrating God’s Grace, a Women World Leader’s Podcast. I’m your host, Rusanne Carole. I have the privilege of bringing you our first podcast for 2023! We, at WWL, thank you for listening and we are so grateful for all God has done in this ministry and our lives this past year, including being able to bring you a trio of podcasts each week. We encourage you to join us in studying God’s Word and learning about all the promises He has in store for us -His sons & daughters.
We are also aware we have had many challenges in this past year of 2022: including the loss of loved ones, obstacles to overcome and opportunities to continue praising and trusting God through some of the most difficult times this world brings to us and our families and friends.
Yet another year is upon us.
A new year, 2023, is here! A time to reflect. A time to ponder. A time to trust our Lord and Saviour with every day we are given here on this earth.
Shall we begin in prayer:
Lord, thank you for this past year. Thank you for the wonderful times you provided where we celebrated and enjoyed all the gifts you gave us. And help us praise and worship you even through the challenges and the things we don’t completely understand or particularly like! It’s often through the suffering we experience that we can find peace in resting and trusting in Your promises. Your promises tell us You are with us. You are a God who truly understands everything we go through! You are bringing us into a new year and with all it will bring let us first and foremost look to You in all we do.
What is it about the turning of time to a new year that makes us evaluate – re-evaluate – dream – set goals?
It’s a restart.
It’s a putting behind the past and turning toward the new.
All that is ahead.
We tend to long for the past and strive for tomorrow. But really all we have is today – so no matter the year God’s Word says all we have is TODAY.
Here are a few things to contemplate as we walk into another year:
- Our days are numbered, God knows our beginning and our end and He gives us free will to live out what many call the dash (the in-between days, the days we are called to be here at such a time as this.
What is God calling you to do in this next season? No matter where you are in your “dash” He has something for you, something to do to glorify Him.
Could it be joining a prayer team?
Could it be a new job?
Could it be learning something new or teaching someone else something new?
I encourage you to spend the time with Him and He will show you what you can partner with Him to accomplish for His Kingdom – to bring joy to yourself and others. It may also be things that stretch and grow you.
Over & over in the Word it tells us God will do “new things”. We must seek Him, rely on Him and He will assist us to accomplish what He has for us to do with our time here.
- Just as the years have seasons, our lives have seasons.
What season are you currently in?
Some of us are in a resting season? Others in a harvest season?
Whatever the season, we are to look to Him and allow for His guidance and His path to be taken. His will, His way we learn with time is so much better than anything we could come up with on our own.
Is God calling you to plant a new dream in your heart? Like a woman who may not believe she can step into that new chapter – starting a business, writing a book, taking that job SHE always wanted to take but something held her back.
Could God be calling you to water others’ dreams at this time? Like a mother staying home to look after her children or those that may be in their later seasons to really take the role of serious intercessory prayer. We often can undervalue by the world’s standards and
Or could God simply be calling you to rest, for you have had a huge year and this is a season to sit, be still and WAIT on Him to tell you what is next.
WOW! What opportunities lie ahead for those that seek what God has for them.
God is the ultimate planter of dreams in the field of our heart!
God is a builder.
- And lastly, live in the present in each day. As we seek, listen and hear His voice He will be there in the present, the still, small voice. We, as His children, know His voice. We may not get it 100% right each time but in His mercy He gives us another day to have a go until we are called home for eternity with Him. So we have this dash! Lord, help us to make the most of each minute of each day.
Lord, let my joy, my peace, my life be a mirror of You and who You are!
Lord, let this year (regardless of the circumstances) be a reflection of who You are in me.
So as we take on this coming year, let our resolution simply be God, let us be more like You each day you gift us to be here. And if you haven’t accepted Christ as your saviour, here’s an invitation. There is no better time than now! Simply say this prayer: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I am sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. I turn to You and ask for forgiveness. Thank you for dying on the cross for me and thank you that you forgave all my sins and set me free from the power of sin in my life. Please come into my heart and life and fill me with your Spirit all the days of my life. Amen.
If you said this prayer, the Word says there is rejoicing in heaven as you accepted Jesus into your heart. A new beginning begins!
I naively believed that once I accepted Jesus in my life all would be well , that life would be easy, a bed of roses some may say. Boy, what I wrong! There are roses and there are thorns, but I give God the permission to be the gardener of my soul, my life. And all is well because God is with us – we are never alone.
Those that have said this prayer celebrate the beginning of a new life in a new year! Those of us who know God begin a new year, hopefully with him as the central focus of all we do! May we live each day for Him and continue to learn and grow and glorify Him above all else.
Happy New Year! If you have said this prayer, please reach out to someone who can walk and support you on your new journey. Everyone is invited to contact us at www.womenworldleaders.com – submit a prayer request, register for an upcoming event, and express interest in supporting the ministry in various ways. From His heart to yours, we are Women World Leaders. All content is copyrighted by Women World Leaders and cannot be used without express written content.