It’s A New Year ...

It’s a new year and I’m so exciting. I think about all the possibilities that exist. This could be the year that your dreams come true. It could be the best year of your entire life! But that requires some hard work on our part. For example, most everyone is working hard to get back in shape right now after the holidays. I know I am. But what’s interesting to me is that when you want to get in shape, when you want to feel better, you must make yourself hurt. More specifically it is through the process of tearing your muscles that they get stronger. You must exert more energy to have more energy. You must go through pain to feel better. You must tear down in to build up. But it’s not just a onetime thing. You must do it every day. And soon, you start getting stronger.

In the same way, we need to build our spiritual muscles. Which means, we must be committed to a daily dose of spiritual disciples. We must be faithful to Church. We must feed on the Word of God. We must wholeheartedly serve the Lord and we must saturate our lives in prayer. Because if we don’t pray continually, our minds will naturally fill with worry or fear.

If you do those things, I promise this could be the best year ever. But know this, tough things will happen this year. It’s a natural consequence of living in a sinful/fallen world. So, what do we do? Well, James 1:2-4 says, “ Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” As hard as it may seem, God can use our trials for a purpose. Notice he doesn’t CAUSE our trials-but he allows them & can use them in ways that we could never imagine.

So, embrace the new year with great optimism. But if you find yourself in a time of testing and trial, realize that God has a purpose in it. Most likely, He is training you today for what He’ll do in your life tomorrow.

Love You All!

Pastor Tanner Wilson

(Editor’s Note: This column is written by a different Littlefield pastor for the Leader-News each week. The columns are published on this page on Wednesdays.)