God is very interested in our future. Isaiah 43:18-19 says,

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

We can learn a lot from our past – from the things we’ve done well and the things we’ve messed up. But we shouldn’t limit our future by fixating on our past –

                 how we didn’t accomplish what we set out to do.

                                       how we let someone down.

                                                            how disappointed God must be.

Regardless of our failures, we can start over.

• Thomas Edison tried 200 elements before he found the right one that made the light bulb work.
• George Washington lost 2/3 of this battles.
• Abraham Lincoln lost 10 out of 12 elections before he became President.
• Babe Ruth had 714 home runs, but he also had 1,330 strikeouts.

God is more interested in our future than he is our past.

2022 is full of possibilities. It is a blank slate laid out before you. What are you going to do with it?

Think positively. 

• Read Proverbs 4:23. “Be careful how you think. Your life is shaped by your thoughts.” 
• How does this apply to how you face the blank slate of the new year?
• What are you thinking about the new year? Use a few words to describe your thoughts about 2015.

Start with Faith.

• Read the last part of Matthew 9:29: “According to your ________________, will it be done to you.” (NIV)
• That means we usually get out of life what our faith expects. Whatever you focus on you tend to reproduce in your life. Are you focused on your failures? Are you focused on what you cannot do? Are you looking at the blank slate of 2015 with high expectations?
• A pastor of mine once said, “The person who says, ‘I can!’ and the person who says, ‘I can’t!’ are both right.”

Don’t wait.

• Read Ecclesiastes 11:4 – Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.(NIV)
• In other words, if you wait for the perfect conditions to act, you may never get anywhere. 
• We are surrounded by imperfect people and we live within imperfect circumstances. How often do you say, “I’ll do that when things slow down/get better/feel right?”

Trust.

• Zechariah 4:6 gives us the key to success:  “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.”
• God specializes in new beginnings but it requires trust on our part. The word “trust” means to lie down and stretch out. Do you trust God like that with your family, your MOPS group, your future?
• Write out a prayer, committing to lie down and stretch out before God.

Plan.

• Proverbs 16:9 says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”  Start with prayer. Make some plans. Make some big plans. And let God direct your steps.