Today we enter into a new decade. 2020 we see you. Thinking back as a little girl to this year and it seemed like it was sooooo far away, and here we are- in the blink of an eye. 2020 will become a new season for many. A time to make solidifying choices and changes. A time to walk into what and where we are called to. The very thing over our lives that’s been waiting for us all along. The greatest and most precious thing.

Jeremiah 29:11 says,“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for good and not harm, to give you a future and a hope.” 

My grandfather always taught me that a vow goes before a change. You don’t wait until you get into the situation, then make the choice, because 99% of the time, our flesh will fail. You make a vow before the situation, and you stand strong on that. You become a man or woman of your word and the joy that comes with that obedience builds something in you and to others that cannot be swayed. We squirm and shame ourselves in our weakness’ but when we find renewed strength and stand strong, we soar. A strength that is one from above, not our own. And that my friend, is the greatest feeling ever.

There is a freshness and a renewing about a new year. A yearning for each and every one of us to walk into our destiny, to become the greatest us. It comes with courage and leverage for a catapult. Day one or one day, the choice is ours. Every day, is a new day, with an opportunity for growth and life change. But today is a catalyst for a fresh start.

When things begin to change inside of us, things start to change around us.

So what does your your change look like this year? 

–Is it to excel at this race we call life? I had an epiphany a couple months ago… When preparing for a race, we can’t train for an hour a week and expect a win, we have to train and prepare daily and then we will prosper in the midst of the hills and valleys and cross that finish line with our hands held high. Let us run the race with grace and stamina like we’ve never experienced!

–Is it to put the screen down and pay attention to our loved ones right in front of us? Knowing, that if God called them home tomorrow, we will forever regret not putting that phone down and being in their presence that one last time and getting to love them just a little while longer. Because one day, and in the blink of an eye, they won’t be here to sit with. Screens are tearing families and homes apart, as addicting as drugs. May we cherish our own lives in 2020 and not live through the lives of others. We can’t win our own race while we are watching someone else’s. As ones testify day in and day out of stepping away from the screens and watching their families soar!

–Is it to be kind to people and to do more for others? Knowing that people are fighting battles day in and day out that we know nothing about? Being more gentle having no comprehension of how broken they are inside already. Or loving someone despite the pain they’ve already caused? Proverbs 11:17 says, “Your own soul is nourished when you are kind, but you destroy yourself when you are cruel.” And the truth behind that is golden. The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. 

–Is it to be better to your body and cherish the one that we’ve been given? To treat it as a temple. To tell yourself that you are beautiful when you look in the mirror rather than pick to pieces the very being that He knit together so intricately? To know that you are a one in a million, built just the way He intended.

–Is it to get into God’s word until God’s word gets into you? To let Him renew you from the inside out? To let Him draw His promises onto your heart? Pray for that and I promise, He will instill and fulfill that in you! If we want to hear God’s word, we must read what He said. I learned that hard way that we must wake up and consume scripture because it is hard for the truth to set us free if we don’t know it.

–Is it to faith more, worry less? This is a big one for me and I struggle daily with it. Worry is interest paid on an account that was never spent. It’s only hurting ourselves. God has already walked before us in each and every day. He knows what’s coming. Worry is a lack in trust that He has already taken care of it before we walk in it. Something that through time and His works, is growing a faith in me unlike I’ve ever known.

–Is it to quit an idol that’s holding you back or hurting you and other people? We all have strongholds that aren’t good for us. With the heart work that we are in and with our very own story, You can! Not alone but with His help. As I will say again, day one or one day. With one of the biggest epidemics today, fight for your life. Fight for your family. And what we’ve learned from us fighting for our own lives, that generations are being transformed- not only in our story but in thousands more. Someone needs you and your story! You are strong enough in His strength. Let Him use your pain as a pedestal.

–Is it to walk into something scary that you’ve been called too? Is it to get out of a comfort and finally surrender with a yes? The unknown can be intimidating (believe me, we know!) but the obedience in stepping out of the boat instills something priceless and everlasting! Surrendering is priceless! Be afraid and do it anyways.

–Is it to start getting on your knees to pray and meeting God and the power of prayer in a whole new way? Wearing in indentions in the floor for generations to see and build on? You know there is nothing more powerful than an example or prayer.

Whatever it is, I pray that we go with our whole hearts. With everything we have in us. So that when we step foot into 2021, we can build on the even stronger foundations that we have built here in 2020. So that generations can be built and reinforced through each and every day. So that with each day we grow stronger, we meet the very person that we were meant to be all along. Just don’t forget to grace yourself and everyone else along this journey, we are meeting parts of ourselves that we’ve never met.

No matter what your life change is for 2020 or for this next decade, you have what it takes. The same God that spoke “let there be light” is still in control. I know this last season may have been tough, it may have been something you never expected to walk through. Somewhere you never expected to be. But the trials, pains and hurts have prepared you and been the groundwork for where God is about to take you. In Romans 8:28, when He promises to work all things together for His good, He means that. He died for that. And I stand firm on that because I know personally. I know that the dark nights turn into brighter days. I know that when the daunting nights come again, that sunnier days will too. I know that He has and still is using my pain for a greater purpose. I know that when we heal, we understand why we broke. Nothing, absolutely nothing, goes to waste.

So, sweet friends, step into 2020, into the prophecy and promise over your life. Even if you don’t know what that looks like, keep stepping forward-even if blindly and it will be revealed. We will prosper when living in His will and not our own.

In the realm of C.S.Lewis and his wise words…. When the rest of the world is running towards the cliff, be the one running in the opposite direction towards home, towards safety. In such simplicity… right or wrong. Honest or dishonest. Noble or undignified. It’s choices we make daily. Let 2020 be our year!

Trust in the Lord and we will soar like wings of eagles. We will run and not grow weary. We will walk and not grow faint. Isaiah 40:31

With much Love,

Chelsea Elizabeth