What Story Are You Going to Tell?

It was a beautiful day for New Years in our little town. So nice that my wife and I decided to go for a walk at our local park. (Sunny and mid-50’s… Winter in North Georgia isn’t terrible!) One of the things I love about our walks is our conversations. And this time of year, like many of you, I’m sure, we love to take some time to look back at the last year to remember where God moved and where we maybe could have done more (or less!) in different areas of our lives. Of course, it’s also fun to look ahead – to dream about what might be? It was during this part of the conversation that I asked this question… “What story do you want to be able to tell 365 days from now?”

For the next half-mile, we talked about different scenarios and things that are important to us. Our daughters and grandchildren were part of that discussion. Also, our company and some things concerning our church. What resulted were some challenges to us. One, in particular, was my comment about finally finishing the book I’m writing. My wife really liked that one… until she felt convicted to say the same about the book she’s penning!

Here’s what we learned – and what God spoke to us – through that conversation, though: While, ultimately, everything we said we wanted to see come to fruition this year depends upon God, there are those things that we need to do as our part. Of course, God is sovereign, and He can do anything he wants and needs to do without us. But when it comes to our dreams and desires, He typically requires us to be on board. And being “on board” usually means doing our part.

What are those things that you want to see happen in the coming year? No doubt many of them require a large dose of divine intervention and answers to prayer. But, what’s your part?

It may be God’s will for me to be a published author, but that will never happen if I don’t actually put pen to paper (or fingers to the keyboard) and write it!

It may be God’s will for our company to fund missions projects around the world, but unless and until I do my part in leading the company properly, it won’t happen.

It may be God’s will for our relationships with our family to be better than they’ve ever been, but unless we intentionally go about prioritizing them and making time for them, nothing will really change.

You get the idea. We must pray. We must intercede. But we must also give God something to work with. We must do our part.

So… what story do you want to tell at the end if this new year? What must you do to make the probability of it happening the greatest it could be?

My prayer is that in doing your part you are able to see God’s part more clearly than ever. And that a year from now, when you look back at what 2020 had to offer, you are able to tell the story you want to tell, and that it starts with, “Let me tell you what God did last year!”

Wishing you all a Happy and Blessed New Year!