Making more resolutions with God
LAST time, Women and Faith shared an inspired approach by a dear sister friend, Anna Brown, on how to do new year resolutions with God’s help. Anna is a devoted daughter of God, homeschool educator, wife and mother. Below Anna shares her personal testimony of what happened after she followed the Lord’s instructions.
Anna Brown: I wrote that (the instructions shared last week) down the first week of January 2022. Shortly after, the Lord did tell me the one thing He wanted to change and I wrote that down. He gave me practical, small steps to take and He and I got to work. By the end of December 2022 I had forgotten that I had written all this down in January. As I reflected on the year and prepared for our church’s New Year’s Eve prayer service, the Lord brought it in front of my eyes as I searched my phone for something else.
I had already evaluated 2022 and had seen that the one thing He wanted to change in me has changed. A lot! I am still not perfect in this area, by any means, but I have made consistent and significant progress; I am very different from the start of 2022.
(I pause here to acknowledge though that it was not all roses and butterflies! Last year was both one of the hardest and one of the best years of my life! Blood, sweat, and tears. But, that is not my focus.)
Reading the old note on my phone made me think 1) about the process I went through, and 2) about sharing the process itself and my testimony. Usually I share things I write, but in January 2022 I was strangely not really motivated to share that note.
In January 2023 I look back at a remarkable year and see that new year resolutions done the lord’s way are so much better. During 2022 I realised the Lord was working something deeper than behaviour change. For a few months He seemed to focus on showing me what was faulty and unlike Him in my feelings (my heart). He showed me how to give Him my emotions and let Him change them. I had always thought the way I feel is the way I feel but He said no! A lot of the time the issue was that my affections were disordered; I was not loving Him more than some other thing (approval of people, efficiency, my own way…)
For a few months He seemed to focus on showing me what was faulty and unlike Him in my thinking (my head) and He showed me new ways to think and new thoughts to think. Thinking His way then started to have a positive effect on my emotions and feelings.
Finally, He showed me what was faulty and unlike Him in my doing (my hands). He showed me 1) new ways to do things and 2) that when my emotions and thoughts change, I have more capacity to perceive Spirit-filled ways to do things.
And when the time came to actually do, the Holy Spirit graciously whispered lots of reminders to my excited heart (and to my reluctant heart), helping me to choose a new and different way.
Some of you may be tempted to ask me what made the difference? Apart from the fact that the Holy Spirit was involved, what really made this experience of a new year resolution different?
I would say I think two things made the difference:
1) allowing the Lord to show me what He wanted to change versus me in my frustration and self-loathing/pity wanting to beat things out of or into me
2) having His strategy for dealing with the times when I failed (being able to confess my failing, saying to the accuser, “Yes I failed, but Jesus has not failed and His righteousness is mine so I can get back up again and keep working at it.”)
I am sharing all this because for many years of my Christian walk, I made plans and gave them to God and asked Him to bless them. This approach is radically different.
I heard the Lord saying: “Will you allow me to make the plan? Will you submit to what I give you? You might not like it, but I know what is best and I know what I am doing, and I love you!”
Folks, the Lord did this thing with me and I am excited. I want everyone to experience their own version of it. I know it will look different for you because our Lord is personal and treats us as individuals, but I feel excited about what He could do for you! He blew my mind and I would love Him to blow yours!
It’s as though the Lord is getting ready to bring revival on the earth and He is getting us ready. He is saying to a people who have long known Him as saviour (who helps us) that it is time to know Him as master (who commands us). Modern, western, independent-minded folks like us may have had little practise and experience with that but He is ready to lovingly teach us.
So, if this resonates with you, join in. Ask the Holy Spirit what one thing He wants to make different in you in 2023. Write it down. Listen for the small, practical steps He gives. Then toil, always leaning on Him and letting Him work in you.
Let us work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13.
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