2020 is coming to a close and I am sure that it brings to the surface of your heart many emotions and thoughts. This has been a year that is unparalleled to any other. The intensity of this year and the variety of unique pressures that it has applied to all of our lives has required much grace from the Lord in order to prayerfully navigate.

Our lives have been changed. Some people’s lives have been shattered due to the damning effects of COVID 19. People have lost loved ones, businesses, homes, finances, their livelihood. The crushing blows of restrictions, orders and injunctions, mandates, and the issuing of regulations have influenced all of our lives in many ways over the course of the year.

It would be crazy enough if COVID and all of what has been attached to that would have been the only thing that we had to deal with, but it wasn’t. A wild presidential election cycle. Issues with the police. Race situations and ethnic diversities that have brought back to the surface of life and conversation a deep-seated hostility not felt in this way since the days of the Civil Rights Movement. The economic crisis of epic proportions. Governmental overreach. Political corruptions, accusations, investigations, and more.

These aren’t the only things that have happened, but they seem to make the list of what is very well going to be associated with the year 2020. Regardless of how you have handled it over the course of the year, you are still here. I am sure there were moments when you didn’t know what would happen or how it would all seem to play out, but you are still here. You are standing in a place and a moment that maybe earlier this year you didn’t know if you would make it to. But you did, praise God.

With all of that said, we are moving full speed ahead into a new year. There are a couple of ways that you are possibly thinking about going into 2021. One of them is that maybe you are so battered from the events of this year that you are still numb to all of life right now. You quite possibly are just holding on for dear life and hoping to God that something else doesn’t fall on you because it would be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. The thought of one more negative thing, one more detrimental thing, one more emotionally painful thing, would just be too much to consider in light of all that has been endured. Talking about vision for 2021 isn’t necessarily something that is on your radar. Things throughout the world are too uncertain, and for sure things that you feel you can see in your own heart and life are too foggy in light of all of the current events to attempt a conversation about “what’s next?”

Let me ask you something—how has this year affected your vision?

I am obviously not simply talking about your physical vision, meaning your eyesight. At this time last year everyone was super hyped up with words for 2020, things they were believing for, endeavors they were set to engage, initiatives ready to be launched. The end of the year always has a special way of creating reflection and visionary consideration. Then, after beginning the year full speed ahead, March hit, COVID changed everything, and we have been taken for the roller coaster ride of a lifetime.

For some, it has completely derailed and decimated any hope at “vision” for this year, as most feel like they have just been day by day responding to and engaging the new information. The news, day by day, seems to keep resetting the parameters of life. The inconsistencies have been problematic to planning of any sorts.

How has all of what has happened this year affected what you are believing for? Has it affected your view of who God is? Is there any disappointment with Him because of how all of this has played out? I think that these are honest questions that we must confront. Whether or not we openly and vulnerably commit to engaging the Lord in prayer about these things, for most, they reside in our hearts and He knows.

Do you have it within you to dream? I know that might sound dangerous at this point, or even painful, because of all of what that might entail. But, if there is one thing that you need to hear this year, it is this—we have not been abandoned by God, and God has not abandoned His purposes or promises for our lives. Please read that again. The gravity of that statement needs to hit your heart. You are not alone; He is with you. You have not been forgotten about; He is mindful of you. Your visionary dream has not been lost; He has not lied to you.

I want to challenge you to sit down with the Lord and allow Him to clear the clutter of your heart. Sit and gaze deeply into the face of Jesus until you feel your hope begin to resurrect. Lean into Him until the Holy Spirit fans into flame the smoldering embers of the fiery furnace of love on the inside.

You cannot afford to be paralyzed by the events of this year. You cannot just sit idly by and allow time to continue to pass by. Your life sitting in neutral, trying to protect and preserve all of the pieces possible by your own wisdom and strength, cannot possibly be the prescription that God has for you.

We were made for faith. We have been constructed for hope.

Faith is substance and evidence. (Hebrews 11:1) Through difficult trials, perseverance, and the Godly character forged throughout the time under great tension and testing, we have hope. And hope does not disappoint, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by His Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:5)

Proverbs 13:12 tells us that hope deferred makes the heart, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Without hope, you become a prisoner to the immediate. Without faith, you are left without a point out on the horizon, a hope of what could and should be. This is dangerous because it does not create any room for your current situation to build towards a greater purpose; it leaves everything as a series of random events that are isolated and disconnected from each other. But we know that life is not this way for us as believers. For we know that God is working ALL things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

He is good and He is working ALL things together for good.

I want to encourage you to head into the New Year with your head up and a confidence in where your help comes from. (Psalm 121:1-2) If this year should have taught us anything, it should be humility and dependency. Our anchor should be set down into Jesus, and Jesus only. Everything else is shaky ground.

Let Him revive your confidence in Him. Let Him restore your vision. Let Him resurrect your hope.