Have you ever found yourself in a place where you have done everything you know to do, but the situation still feels impossible?
The LORD will perfect that which concerns me;
Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever;
Do not forsake the works of Your hands.
Psalm 138:8
Daily I walk along the path of choosing. Decisions of life and death constantly before me. My choices will either draw me to you or lead me away. Each day I will declare that you are my God and nothing, not even my own selfish desires, will rule my life.
I fall into your arms. Not because I'm weary or defeated, but because I know you are my only hope. You don't want me to strive and take control. You only ask that I rest in you and release every care.
Without you, I'm nothing. Though my mind seeks to know the outcome of every situation, I will trust you. Your love has never failed me. I don't need to understand all of your plans, I only need to believe that they are good. You are the Author and Finisher of my faith. Every one of your faithful promises will come to pass. You will finish the work you've started in me.
Excerpt from "Prayers on Fire: Praying the Psalms" by Brian Simmons
And yet, I am not afraid.
Because this is not the end of my story.
You have promised something greater than what I see now.
A life where what is broken will be restored, where weakness will be replaced
with strength, and where I will finally see You face to face. That hope
steadies me in ways nothing else can.
Help me to hold this truth gently but firmly in my heart.
When I feel the weight of aging, remind me that I am not fading, I am being
prepared. Each step forward is not just toward an ending, but toward eternity
with You.
You have been faithful through every year behind me, and
You will be faithful through every moment ahead, even the final one.
There is no fear in what You have already redeemed.
When I was walking through one of the most difficult seasons of my life, God showed me a powerful picture. I’m not really a “vision” kind of girl. So at first, I thought it was just my imagination. But then I felt an impression on my heart that this really was from God.
What I saw inside my mind was a beautiful flower made from paper-thin glass. Then I saw a hand reaching out and wrapping itself around the glass flower. But as the hand closed around it, the glass shattered. It was delicately beautiful but too fragile to be worked with.
Next I saw the same flower formed out of shiny metal. Once again the hand closed around it - only this time, it didn’t change in any way. The steel was strong but not moldable. The metal flower was too hard to give way to the hand’s desired working.
The last time I saw the same flower, it was made from white clay. Every detail was the same, except now when the hand closed around it, the flower squeezed and moved. The hand folded, twisted, and worked with the clay until suddenly an even more beautiful flower emerged.
I asked God about the glass flower and the metal flower. They were beautiful - but not as beautiful as the white clay flower He molded.
I felt as if the Lord said to my heart: Lysa, I want you to be delicate, but I don’t want you to be fragile. If you’re like glass, when I try to make you into something new, you’ll just shatter. I also want you to be strong, but I don’t want you to be unmoldable. You see, Lysa, that steel flower will always just be a steel flower. And no matter how hard My hand presses on it, the metal stays hard. But if you surrender to My shaping, I can do a new and beautiful work in you.
Here we go again … another January.
I was back at my dead-end job after the holidays, feeling about 10 pounds heavier (my mom’s mac and cheese was worth it though), stuck and alone in a city where friends seemed to change faster than the seasons. I was still processing the quiet ache of grief. Some people were gone too soon, and others had just walked out of my life without explanation.
The holiday celebrations were over. The sparkle had faded. As I sat at my desk, staring at a computer screen that barely paid my bills, I wasn’t thinking about resolutions or goals. I was thinking about all that had changed in the past year, how behind I felt, and how much I didn’t like it.
Change can be beautiful, but it can also feel brutal. Sometimes January doesn’t feel like a fresh start. It feels like a reminder that time keeps moving whether we’re ready or not.
But here’s what I’ve learned since that quiet, lonely January: While life constantly changes, Christ never does.
Hebrews 13:8 reminds us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Even when everything around us shifts, we still have a steady foundation. He doesn’t come and go with the seasons. He doesn’t change His mind when others do. His goodness, His promises, and His presence remain.
So if this new year already feels uncertain, remember: God isn’t pacing the floors of heaven wondering what to do next. He’s fully in control and fully guiding you. It is not your job to understand why things look the way they do, but you can expect God to use your present circumstances to lead you to His goodness. He’s still the same Savior who carried you through last year, and He’ll carry you through this one too.
When we rely on Him through life’s changes, we can experience growth. Change isn’t just about walking away from what was; it’s about what God is bringing our way next.
In my life, I look back now and realize my dead-end job actually ended months later, but that led to something new. The friends who walked away made room for ones who would change my life. There was never a reason to fear the unknown because God was already there, leading me toward His best.
I just wish I could go back and tell my younger self: You don’t need to fear a future God is already in. God is refining you.
Let’s stay close to the One who never changes, even when everything else does. Don’t resent the growth or the change. Expect God to show up in it.
Abide in Christ – Being in Christ
“Abide in Me [Christ], and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4).
Consider abiding in Christ or being in Christ as a journey. This spiritual adventure begins with a personal experience with Jesus Christ and continues for the rest of your life. The steps on this glorious path are ones of both pain and great gain since you must leave your former, natural pathways to follow a new way of living (2 Corinthians 5:17). This new path involves denial of your former path and its accompanying selfish desires and actions (see Romans 6:3-5), but is also filled with great blessings, including the very presence of Jesus Christ and a joy that is beyond description in human terms alone (1 Peter 1:8). This new life is one lighted only in small steps, which require faith in following along with, but not ahead of, Jesus Christ. Yet those who choose to discipline themselves do so with the assurance of fellowship that continues forever with Jesus Christ in His Home called Heaven (John 3:16 and John 14:1-3).
Abide in Christ – Remaining in Close Fellowship with Jesus Christ
To abide in Christ is not a matter of being in a relationship with Jesus and then suddenly being without that relationship. Abiding in Christ is experiencing an intimate, close relationship with Jesus as your Savior. It is more than a superficial acquaintance.
The life of Jesus Christ on earth was one of trial and suffering (Matthew 8:20), but also one of great joy in doing the will of God the Father (John 15:9-11). After the initial experience of coming along side of Jesus Christ, one begins to walk more and more as He walked (1 John 2:6). It is accompanied by a heart that is inclined and dedicated to obey God and His Word.
Abide in Christ – Continuing in Closeness
Being in Christ also involves the Holy Spirit, who convicts, comforts, and communicates with the disciple of Christ (John 14, 16). The truth that the Holy Spirit will teach the believer in Christ is always the same as that which Jesus Christ said to His disciples while they walked with Him on this earth (John 16:13-15).
This invisible leading is one that goes beyond words and even outward actions. There is an intimacy for the follower of Christ who hears the beckoning and guidance of the Holy Spirit which transcends what can be described in human terms alone. This closeness leads to a fruitful life with both inward and outward manifestations. These fruit are gifts from this life with the Holy Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Jesus Christ likened abiding in Him to a branch of a tree remaining part of the main vine of a tree (Luke 13 and John 15). From this vine (Jesus Christ) comes the only true, spiritual nourishment and eternal life. The branch that seeks its own ways and substitutes candy for spiritual food will not grow and will not produce spiritual fruit (John 15:2, 6). The branch which receives this spiritual food grows and helps to lead to other growth on the tree and receives to itself a life of “peace that passes all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).
There comes a moment when you realize that what you are calling failure is actually just life unfolding in a way you did not expect. You have been holding your breath trying to make everything make sense, trying to fix what slipped through your fingers, trying to rewind what cannot be rewound. And somewhere in all of that pressure you began to label yourself with words God never spoke over you.
"I am training you to thank Me not only for obvious blessings but also for situations you would never have chosen - a wayward child or spouse; loss of health, home, or employment. This is counterintuitive thankfulness, and it is possible only to the extent that you trust Me at a deep level. It is also a matter of self-discipline: willing yourself to thank Me even when your circumstances are screaming at you to find a way out.
You may not understand why the burdens press so hard or why the world seems louder than your prayers. Yet God sees every tear, He hears every sigh, and He is gently holding you in His presence. Let your mind rest on Him, not on the chaos around you, for He is your peace.
Life has seasons where everything feels flat, where nothing seems to bring joy, and those seasons can feel endless. But they don’t define your worth, and they don’t define your future.
