And 2024 was a success… not BUT!

Many of us started 2024 with a list of things we hoped to achieve.  For many, the desires of our heart were attached to the house, the car, the job, the improved relationship with loved ones, or a new romantic relationship.  Despite the efforts of many, it seemed that none of those things would come to fruition.  Instead, many were meted with disappointment of some sort: rejection, betrayal, alienation, and uphill battles in relationships, jobs, and other key parts of your life.      OR, if you received some of those material things, you still felt unfulfilled.

If, however, those disappointments or feeling of unfulfillment led you to a closer walk with God, then you would have achieved greater than what money could ever buy!  What I know for a fact, is that every pain has a purpose.  The problem is that some of us do not pay close enough attention to what our pain is telling us, so we miss the mark.  We miss the mark to let our pain teach us and change us.  In many instances, it is because we focus on the pain itself and feeling sorry for ourselves, instead of using the pain as the opportunity to improve our relationship with God.   Invariably, life has a way of giving us what we need and not necessarily what we want, especially if at our core, we have the desire to serve God. 

We go through battles for many reasons.  Often the reasons is not made known to us until the pain has passed.  Maybe, there is something that we need to learn.  Maybe, we are somewhere we shouldn’t be.  Maybe, we are in a relationship we KNOW does not serve us, that we need to leave.  Maybe, there is something that we are doing that we shouldn’t be doing.  Maybe there is a space where God wants us to enter that our stubbornness is preventing.  Our battles are designed, in many cases, to take us to the space (mental, physical, spiritual) that we are supposed to be, and no amount of intervention on the part of our friends and/or family will prevent that happening. 

Whatever the case, we are encouraged that instead of looking at our pains and disappointments as failures, maybe we should change our perspective to see if maybe… just maybe, there are other moments that we should give consideration to; for example:

• If, in 2024, you learned to replace worry with worship, you succeeded.
• If, in 2024, you improved your prayer life, you succeeded.
• If, in 2024, you forgave those who hurt you, you succeeded.
• If, in 2024, you forgave yourself, you succeeded.
• If, in 2024, you sat in self-reflection and changed for the better, you succeeded.
• If, in 2024, you gave your life to Christ, you succeeded.
• If, in 2024, you focussed on getting to know God through HIS Word, you succeeded.
• If, in 2024, you operated in obedience of God’s Word, you succeeded.
• If, in 2024, you exercised faith, you succeeded.
• If, in 2024, you treated your body as the temple of God, you succeeded.
• If, in 2024, you turned away from sin and killed your flesh, you succeeded.
• If, in 2024, you operated in repentance, you succeeded.
• If in 2024, you truly loved yourself, based on God’s love for you, you succeeded.
• If, in 2024, you testified and brought someone closer to God, you succeeded.

If the end of 2024, despite the challenges you continue to face, brought you peace beyond understanding and joyful for what 2025 will bring because you know who you are and whose you are in Christ, you have succeeded.  Ultimately, the other desires of your heart (in Christ) will be met.

Do not focus on the betrayal, the illness, the alienation, the lies, the deliberate efforts to hurt you, the losses, the hurt, the pain, the disappointments, or worry about the future.  God has you in your quest to serve HIM.

Are you there yet?  I know I am! 

As we ponder our true success moments of 2024 and improve our walk with God, let us ruminate on the following scripture:

Psalm 37 v 3 – 6 (NKJV)

3. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 4. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.  6. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.

WELCOME TO 2025, where continued success awaits!