Leave the Why Behind - Moving from 2016 to 2017.
by Olivia Barnes
Thursday, January 12, 2017
“Oh sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things!” Psalm 98:1 (ESV)
As 2016 comes to a close, you may be running away from a year filled with heartache or you may well be longing to repeat a year which has been filled with blessing, but we ought not run or seek to repeat.
For me, 2016 has been a blessed year. A year filled with deep valleys, yet valleys which God has used to change me, to teach me, to take me into a deeper relationship with Him. I don’t want to go through those trials again but I consider them to be precious.
Perhaps you have also had a year of trials, but the purpose, the value, the hand of God has not yet been revealed. God does not have a time frame; it may be years or even decades before God shows you a revelation of why. But take comfort that God knows the reasons and will use the experiences to draw you close, enable you for the future or cause you to be a channel of blessing to others.
Let me seek to encourage you.
As a schoolgirl in 1999, I was bullied. The situation was dealt with and I moved on, considering it to be just one of those things in life. However, this past year (17 years after the fact) God has revealed to me how that experience shaped me, how He has used it to make me the person I am and how that experience can be used to help others.
There are other situations however, which God has not revealed. In 2008 I felt like my world had caved in around me. My dad, my hero, fell through a farm shed roof and landed on the concrete floor below, paralyzed. For years I questioned God, I agonized, I cried, until I realized I needed to stop asking why and be thankful that he was alive.
That realization came as 2015 drew to a close. And I believe that as a result of letting go of the ‘why’, God has blessed me, and my relationship with Him has reached new depths. The question of ‘why’ was holding me back in my relationship with the Lord.
As 2016 comes to a close, I urge you to leave the questions of ‘why’ at His feet, tell Him you trust Him, you trust His plan. Leave the unanswered questions of 2016 with Him and do not carry them into your 2017.
Throw yourself at the Lord’s feet, empty your heart before him, every little bit. Ask him to help you hand over the ‘why’ and let go. It isn’t achieved immediately but if it is the desire of your heart the Lord will grant your desire. The ‘why’ will gradually loosen its grip on your life and then one day you will realize you have left it behind and the freedom that brings will give you a fresh joy.
Lord, You have said that we are to give thanks in all things. And Lord, while I may not understand all that has taken place in 2016 I thank You Lord, that You do understand and that means I don’t need to. Lord, I place into Your hands, all that has passed and trust You for all that is to come. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
© 2016 by Olivia Barnes. All rights reserved.
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