I have never been one to set a New Year’s resolution or pick a word for the New Year, but I do like the idea of setting intentions. I set intentions centered around the spiritual, emotional and physical foundations of my day to day living at various times throughout the year, not just January 1. For me, intentions put practical and meaningful purpose in the steps I take throughout my days, which unfold the experiences of my weeks, months and years.
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What I have learned through a message that God has laid on my heart time and again is that I don’t need to create a “new me” with each new year. The me that he created me to be is within me; she always has been. I just need to set aside intentional time every day to turn to God, find God, listen to God and let him work in and through me, so that I can be the truest version of the me that has always been.
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The comforting part of living a life of intentions is that I get a fresh start every single day. So if I don’t fulfill my intentions on any particular day or during a certain week, month, year or season of life, I rest assured that I am still His and he is still actively working to shape me into the best me I can be. His mercies are new every morning.
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I learn day to day how I need to reframe my intentions or if I need to set new ones. He teaches me and shows me. I learn by tuning in to how I feel, how those around me act, and by patiently waiting for God- his will, his way, his perfect timing. As I have worked through setting my intentions and living in a way to seek and fulfill them in the past, I have learned to ask God different questions. I have stopped asking him the endless list of whys. I now ask him the whats and the hows. What is he doing in my life? How is he working in and through me? What is he asking me to wait for, and how is he using adversity to change me, build me, renew me? What strengths will come from my struggles? What ministry will come from my pain?
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So in the beginning of this new year 2021, I am not looking for a new version of me. Rather I am doing my very best to intentionally live each day to see how God is using and RENEWING me. I awake each morning excitedly anticipating “to be made new in the attitude of my [your] mind; and to put on my new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” For each day is a new gift, with new mercies, new graces, new blessings and new lessons. I am incapable of living this life well or being the “best me” all by myself. I need Jesus. I want to be transformed by the renewing of my mind and revival in my heart. I don’t need or want a new me, nor am I the past me. Instead, I am becoming the me he designed me to be by facing life’s struggles and spiritual battles with the enemy. The enemy relentlessly attacks me, trying to stop me or convince me to doubt myself and what God is calling me to do. So with intention, I will fight back. I will pursue the best version of me that God is revealing with each passing day as he calls me to do his work and build his kingdom.
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