What If, Why Not: A New Year That Transforms
How did your year end?
Perhaps with a loud noise and fireworks. Or a silent prayer. Or maybe there was a whisper in your heart saying, “What if?”
We all have one. A what if that haunts us down, filling our hearts with regrets as if a magnet is pulling us back to where it began.
What if I said yes instead of no, or no instead of yes.
What if I didn’t do it. What if I did it.
What if I stayed. What if I decided to let go.
What if I pursued. What if I kept silent.
What if I listened. What if I ignored.
What if I gave up. What if I fought.
What if I didn’t wait. What if I did wait.
Things would have been different. My year would have been better.
We look back and realize the wrong decisions we’ve made or the times we got tired of waiting. We feel sorry for ourselves as a result and dread another year. If there’s anything that we share at the finish line, it’s this: We all fall short. Not even one could live a perfect life. An Instagram-perfect life is possible, yes. But one that’s pure, blameless and without spot? It is only by God’s grace.
As you sit down and think of the what ifs, have you also thought about how you survived them all?
Despite the pain, the sorrow, the blurry or the dim phases of our lives, here we are celebrating a new year. We reached the end and we are given a chance to start another year.
God’s grace is sufficient, indeed. For during the times you said no–or yes; the times you didn’t do something–or otherwise; the times you let go–and you stayed, the times you listened and the times you ignored, every single moment in your life has a holy significance. Maybe you don’t see it now, but to God who is aware of what you are going through — in your family, career, spiritual journey, love life, ministry, up to the smallest details of your existence — every moment matters. Collectively, they brought us right where we are – that point in our lives where the light of Jesus outshines everything, even brighter than the fireworks of a New Year.
Yes, we are celebrating another year despite of because it was Him who is with us all along.
Could we leave behind our what ifs now and start whispering our why nots?
I will be braver.
I will be wiser.
I will be a better steward.
I will serve.
I will love.
I will obey.
I will forgive.
I will trust.
I will wait.
I will pursue purity.
All of these – Why not?
We can because God is our enabler.
He is the reason why. He is the present. He holds what’s next. We can entrust to him our 2019 including our imperfect, stubborn selves.
Yes, there is no one better than a God who works in our lives from the inside out. More than the fulfillment of our resolutions, God is is after our transformation. Will we allow Him to renew our minds, our hearts, our being, every single day?
Life and this world are not perfect. Neither the people we’ll meet nor the ones we’ll become.
But if we seek His face and seek His voice, our lives can align in His perfect will.
“Keep asking and it will be given to you.
Keep searching and you will find.
Keep knocking and the door will be opened to you.”
– Matthew 7:7
Carmela Ann Santos, TLW volunteer
Mel is a lover of written words, kids, and education. She values her faith, family, and her personal time. She dreams of writing a book, doing an interview with Mike Shinoda, and building her bookstore someday. Her favorite topics are faith, love, and others. She finds happiness seeing her loved ones happy. She wants to retire as a mobile teacher and spend the remaining days of her life in Batanes. Read more about her Writing Life at http://carmelameyla.wordpress.com
Carmela encourages you to volunteer at True Love Waits Philippines to help Connect Filipino Youth with God and His Plan for Absolute Purity https://wagmuna.com/volunteer/ or share with your youth org or school to https://wagmuna.com/invite-us/ To empower our team to reach our nation you might consider supporting the great work that we do and join us in investing in the next generation of our nation’s youth https://wagmuna.com/invest/
