Tara Wentworth

May your 2017 be filled with love, faith and hope. You know, as we begin this new year, each one of us has a choice to make. I am choosing to see a “revolution of love,” an increase in my own level of faith and keeping my life anchored in the only hope I know is sure and steadfast — Jesus Christ.

I have spent much of this past week reflecting on 2016 and all that has transpired. What can I learn from the things that appear negative and how can I take advantage of the things that seemed to have been to my favor? How will I use those insights to make 2017 a year where I see an increase in my own life, as well as those around me, in love, faith and hope?

Here are several questions I am asking myself that might help me to keep my eyes on the goal, which is to finish this year 2017 with more love, more faith and more hope than I started the year with. What are my strengths? What are my weaknesses? (Be truthful.) What obstacles are in front of me that need to be overcome in order for my goals to be reached? What kind of resources do I have available to help me obtain this goal? And lastly, how do I go about developing a plan that will help me accomplish this pursuit?

This could be broken down into each area of our lives — individually, family, vocationally, ministry and any other area you are involved with. Hosea 1:5, 7 says to “Consider your ways!” Habakkuk 2:1-3 says to watch and see what the Lord will say and then to write the vision, so that you may run with it.

What you do with your life on a daily basis matters. I don’t think I can emphasize that enough. Preparation is always important to succeed in anything you want to do well. In the natural, if you are not prepared when a bad storm comes to the area and the electricity is off for a few days (or longer), you have no immediate access to drinking water and you only have enough food in the house for two days, you are not prepared. Even FEMA encourages everyone to have three months’ worth of the basics.

The same is true spiritually or in any other area of your life. The definition of stupid is to keep doing the same thing but expecting different results. Jeremiah 29:11-13 states that the Lord has a future and a hope for each of us, but in order to find out what that entails, he admonishes us to call upon the Lord, to pray, to seek God with all of our heart. Then in verse 14 he states “I will be found by you.” It is almost like the Lord wants to play “hide and seek” with us. He wants to be found, but He also wants us to pursue Him.

Most of us have at our fingertips access to more knowledge than we could ever use in one lifetime. The search engines on the internet are so sophisticated now that within a few seconds, whatever information you may want or need is right there on your smart phone or computer. A majority of the world now has access to the internet and more and more countries have smart phones available, even in the remote villages of most Third World countries. They may have to take their phone someplace to have it charged because they have no electricity, but even solar power is becoming readily available and the cost is coming down enough that it won’t be too long before every village can afford at least enough to power up the village cell phone. I saw this first hand in Malawi this past fall. Malawi is very, very poor, but I saw a cell phone in many villages, usually in the hand of the village chieftain or leader. At every major intersection there was a store where they could have that phone charged.

My challenge to all of us, myself included, is to take some time to develop a manageable action plan — what do you want to accomplish this year? How could that happen? (Yes, you are allowed to dream). How will you hold yourself accountable and follow through with this plan? I have a very busy friend who takes whatever time is necessary to write out a detailed plan for he and his family and his businesses every year that he says is anywhere from 25-50 pages long. He has been doing this for years and it is obvious, from his success that this strategy is part of the overall reason. Even if your “plan” is only one page, or a part of a page, let me challenge you to consider taking this bold step into your future. Plan to make 2017 a turning point in your life.