God’s glory – Freed to Fly

First of all, I want to wish you all a Blessed New Year. If you are hurting right now, I pray your heavy load will be lifted and you will find peace in Jesus! I wish you all loads of love, peace, and joy in 2015!

Looking back over the past year of writing, I have so much to be grateful for. When I read WordPress’ year-end report for 2014, I was awed to see visitors came here from 93 different countries. Thank you all for taking the time to stop in at my site. Whether you commented or not, I hope you have received hope in Jesus. And thank you for caring thoughts, prayers, and encouragement. They have confirmed to me that God wants me to keep on writing here. May I ask you to pray for me? That I will write only with an eye to His glory and not my own?

My One Word for 2014 was TRUST. As we neared the end of another year, I had to ask, “Lord, have I grown at all in trusting You?” Sometimes I think I do trust Him more to be a loving Father with pure intentions, but I have trouble still with placing my whole heart and life in His hands. I remain a work in progress. One day, when I am with Jesus forever, I will finally come to trust completely – no fears, no hesitations, no reservations. What a glorious day that will be!

As 2014 neared its end, my heart struggled to find a word for 2015. What do I want to focus on? What is lacking in my life? And so many words jumbled together in my mind.

Then I woke up on New Year’s Day facing the uncertainties of what 2015 would bring. I prayed that I would follow Jesus, not always try to run ahead of Him. As I discussed this with my husband, he repeated the phrase we love to remind ourselves of – “I don’t need to understand; I just need to hold Your hand.”

Yes! This is what I need throughout the year. To FOLLOW Jesus! To more and more give up my own way and surrender to His way. To cling to His hand, to not let go to find my own paths.

So easily I make my plan and then ask the Lord to bless it instead of waiting quietly at Jesus’ feet to hear what His plan for my life is and then take His hand and follow.

Then Jesus said to His disciples,
“Whoever wants to be My disciple
must deny themselves and
take up their cross and follow Me.”
Matthew 16:24

So what does the word “FOLLOW” mean for me in 2015?

To surrender to God’s plans and let go of mine. I need to let go of my self-made plans and let Jesus direct me according to His plans for me. To trust Him, to cling to His hand, and follow Him in whichever paths He leads me.
To strive for God’s glory, not mine. I want to let go of selfish desires. I often confuse “selfish” with anything I do for myself. But God’s plan is clearly written in His Word that I should take care of myself. I need to search my heart and sort out what selfish really means. Selfish is anything that elevates myself more than God. Specifically, I want to stop striving for approval and validation from people, longing to be recognized and elevated, and to focus on glorifying God in all I do, say, think, or write.
To focus on the cross Jesus carried for me and be willing to follow His footsteps. To be willing to die to myself out of love for Him and for hurting souls. To accept what happens in my life as guided by His hand of love. To believe that no matter what happens, it is meant to prosper me and mold me more into His image and to His glory.
To swallow Truth and spew out lies. Too easily I am led along by negative voices, either from my own insecurity or from the devil who wants to discourage me. I want to follow God’s Truth with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to keep a tight grasp on who I really am in Him.

Do you have a word you’d like to focus on this year? What does it mean for you?