Happy NEW Year!!!
Yesterday (LAST YEAR) 🙂 we focused on #REMEMBERING what God had done in our lives in 2016.

Today (THIS YEAR) we continue on in Isaiah 43:18 , starting with the words:

“FORGET all that”, “REMEMBER NOT the former things.”  

Think about those miraculous things God has done in your life, not just last year, but the past. Think of the most momumental experience in your spiritual life. That experience that still brings chill bumps to your arms and the back of your neck. 

 For me, it was in 2014, when our family was adopting our daughter from Uganda, a small beautiful country in East Africa. Everything about her adoption was a miracle. It brings tears to my eyes now thinking of every mountain God moved, time after time, to bring her home to America, to have a family, a home. 

 But God tells Israel:

“But forget all that–it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.”

NOTHING.

WOW.

Again we are reminded how BIG our God is.

Ya’ll this makes me excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But wait, he goes further:

“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? ”

Something NEW.

“I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”

In the study, I asked you to envision yourself in one of these landscapes when you think ahead about the new year. 
Immediately when I read this passage, my heart and mind went back to the wilderness of Africa. One of our most difficult days there, we drove several hours away from the capital city to a remote area to meet some of my daughter’s relatives, whom she had never met either.

Finally we turned off the main paved road, onto a dirt road. Then the dirt road became just a grass trail that led through heavy bush and vegetation. The giant leaves and bushes started to engulf us until finally, the guide that was with us said, “This is as far as we can drive, we are going to have to walk from here.” There was no more path to drive on.

This was un-charted territory.

WILDERNESS  

All we could do was trust that the guide whom we had hired was not taking us out to be killed by lions so he could run off with our backpacks. The guide knew where we were going. And his intentions were pure. We walked about a mile to the home where our daughter’s relative lived. And the experience there that day is something we will treasure forever.

But what if we would have told the Guide:

NO. We aren’t getting out of this van to walk through the wilderness. We don’t want to experience #NEWTHINGS. We are good. We would have missed out on so much incredibleness!!!

So this is my story. I want to see and hear about yours! Happy New Year! I’m praying we all walk with the only GUIDE who is worthy of our trust. I can’t wait to see what #NEWTHINGS He has in store!