Forward to a New YearSample

The Best is Yet to Come 

As we face a new year, most of us take a moment to consciously leave the old year behind and look ahead into the next. We think about moving on—moving forward. For the next five days, I want to encourage you to open your vision and make that shift. The past is done. Now it’s time think about the rest of your life. It’s about tomorrow. Your tomorrow—and the day after that.

Your God-given future is not a haphazard jumble of confusing contingencies. If you feel stuck, you don’t have to be. If you feel discouraged after a long, hard year, it’s time to deal with that. If you feel uncertain, you can get clarity.

You’re traveling an appointed way filled with promise and productivity. Everything in your past has prepared you for what’s next, and every promise of God will provide what’s needed. This is no time to let anxiety, apathy, or anything else hamper you.

As this year begins, I encourage you to push forward, whatever your age or circumstances. Get on with your life and chase your unfolding future—and do it with focus, faith, and fervor. I’m excited about whatever is next for you! Your coming days and years are brimming with blessings. Yes, there may be burdens, but God knows about those too. So don’t dread tomorrow. Leverage it for the Lord and for others.

I’ve lived long enough to learn something: no matter what season of life you’re in, your best and brightest days are just around the corner. That’s not just my opinion and it’s not a pious platitude; it’s biblical truth. When you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, your future is always unfolding at the speed of grace. God is waiting to use you now more than ever, and your life is far from finished. It’s just beginning.

This past year may have left you feeling stalled-out, broken down in the emergency lane along the road of life, with no way to get moving again. But I’m here to offer a jump-start to your engine—to spark your interest and help you move forward with fresh energy. It begins when you start to sense God’s desires and dreams for you, which are birthed in prayer. As those dreams evolve in your heart, you declutter your routine so you can live with sharper focus and deeper faith. You latch on to the truth of God—that He has a unique road map for you and has wonderfully fashioned you for the route He’s chosen. 

In the process, you have to cast off pessimism and press onward with a positive mindset like that of the heroes in the book of Revelation who were ready to “follow the Lamb wherever he goes” (Rev. 14:4 niv). Your life is an investment with eternal dividends. Here on earth, you’ll finish in God’s timing only to immediately resume your activities in heaven, where an eternity of worship, work, and fellowship awaits you.

In Jesus Christ your life is not obsolete, it’s not out of fashion, and it’s not over!

May the Lord Jesus guide you to discover—or to rediscover—the dreams, desires, and driving force He has waiting for you as you shift into following Him forward!

Respond

1. In what areas do you feel your life has “stalled” in the last year? What are you glad to be leaving behind you? 

2. Think of the past year’s challenges. If “everything in your past has prepared you for what’s next,” what do you think might be in store for you in light of those challenges? Take a moment to pray and ask God to give you insight into what He’s been teaching you. 

3. Do you struggle to believe that the best is yet to come for you this year? What might change if you committed to facing each new day with a positive and forward-looking mindset, and with faith in God’s plans and promises?