Resolution or Solution 3 ~ by Lynn Moser

Resolution or Solution 3

Last year on Twitter, someone suggested that “rather than making New Year’s Resolutions, we can choose to create New Year’s Solutions.”

That made me stop and think. What is the difference between a resolution and a solution? So, I looked up the definitions.

The dictionaries say that resolution is a formal expression of opinion or intention made. It comes from the word resolute, which means to be resolved or determined on a course of action, set in purpose or opinion.

Solution, on the other hand, means the act of solving a problem or question, an answer.

Only a small percentage of New Year’s resolutions see fulfillment, a humorous dichotomy, given its definition. Initially, most of them are launched with great intentions but slowly, or sometimes quickly, run out of steam.

Determination slides by the wayside. With little acting upon the problem or circumstance, the intended outcome is not accomplished. This is why I’ve never really made any New Year’s resolutions. I knew I would never keep them.

While solution infers the act of doing something, most people just have the solution compartmentalized in their heads or written down on paper. Wanting to change a situation or something about oneself and coming up with a solution to solve or improve it is still not the answer. Just because I WANT something to change and may be determined for it to be so doesn’t mean it WILL change.

I need more than a resolution, more than a solution. While both executed together are preferable, they must be backed with something more…they need to be backed by actual action. Therefore, the meaning of this scripture takes on a new meaning, “A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” (Eccl. 4:12b NKJV)

I think I’ve come up with my action, which is my theme for this year. I’ve borrowed it from an old hymn…I Surrender All!

All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give;

I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all;

All to Thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all.

If I surrender all, then I cannot be a hindrance to the Lord’s plans and purposes for my life. If I do not surrender all, I allow my life to be filled with the same old things from the year now passing.

God said through Isaiah, “Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Is. 43:19 NKJV)

What exactly do I want in the New Year? Or more importantly, what does the Lord want for me and from me? How do I embark on an action if I have my fingers tightly clenched around all the events of the old year? Do I really want a new thing to happen in my life?

If I desire the best for my life, I must, as the saying goes, let go and let God! I must…surrender all!

Do you desire God to do a new thing in your life this year? Are you dragging all the hurts, sins, regrets, failures, disappointments, and unforgiveness of the old year behind you in a little red wagon or perhaps a U-haul?

Let this year be a year of release. Take action! Surrender it all!

New Year’s blessings,

Lynn

Lynn Mosher loves to dig into God’s Word and treasure hunts for golden nuggets along the road Home. Lynn lives with her hubby (since 1966) in their Kentucky nest, emptied now of three kidlets and embracing three giggly grand-chicklets. Her greatest passion is to share those nuggets in her devotionals and inspirational stories, fulfilling God’s call on her life to encourage others and glorify the Lord. Lynn writes monthly for several sites and bi-weekly at her online residence, Heading Home. 

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A Stone of Remembrance ~ by Lynn Moser

A Stone of Remembrance

Ebenezer? Who is that? No, not Scrooge. This Ebenezer was a what, not a who. In the Bible, Ebenezer means stone of help. It’s purpose? Let’s see…

At one time in Israel’s history, when they faced the Philistines, Samuel and Israel fasted, prayed, repented, and offered a sacrifice. God answered their plea by confusing and defeating the enemy that pursued them. To commemorate the fact that Israel was victorious and recovered all the territory the enemy had taken, Samuel set up a stone as a marker of remembrance.

When he did this, he exclaimed, “Up to this point the Lord has helped us!” (1 Samuel 7:12 NLT) Samuel, whose name meant heard of God, knew the Lord would hear them and be on their side in the future.

The Lord’s hand remained against the Philistines and the enemy never came back into the territory of Israel. Peace reigned throughout the land all the days of Samuel.

Did the enemy pursue you this past year? Did you experience the Lord’s presence in your circumstances? Did He provide for you, even if in quantities less than desired? Did He bring you victories in certain areas of your life?

We all have reasons to set up an Ebenezer of the Lord, the Rock of our salvation, to mark the closing year. As we do, He will stand poised, firmly fixed between the years. His back will be against the year now gone, resolving its troubles, sorrows, and disappointments and transforming all the old…the old attitudes, the old habits, the old ways, and the old circumstances…into something new.

The light of His presence and guidance will beam across the New Year, illuminating the passage into the land of the unknown. His path will take us through each dry wilderness circumstance to streams of fresh, flowing water.

Therefore, on this virgin trek, let us not carry the baggage of leftover regrets, unforgiveness, resentments, failures, ungrateful hearts, or disappointments, all of which weigh down our usefulness. Let us make room in the New Year for the Lord to do that new thing in our lives.

I plan to ask myself these questions. Will you?

*Will I stand bravely at the New Year’s threshold, ready, willing, and obedient to follow the Lord, no matter where He may lead?

*Will I make room in the New Year for the Lord to do a new thing in my life, or will it be filled with more of the same from last year?

*Will my attitude be to enter His portal with thanksgiving, praise, and worship from a grateful heart, remembering His goodness and mercy over the past year, and asking His blessings over the coming year?
*Will I resolve to serve God greater than the year that has faded?

My prayer for you: May the Lord’s shadow of forgiveness conceal the disappointments and troubles of your year now past, while His light casts a beacon of guidance to His safe haven of the days yet to be explored. May His hand be against your enemy and His peace reign all your days.

May His servants Goodness and Mercy pursue you throughout the days to come.

Have a very blessed New Year!

New Year’s blessings,

Lynn

Lynn Mosher loves to dig into God’s Word and treasure hunts for golden nuggets along the road Home. Lynn lives with her hubby (since 1966) in their Kentucky nest, emptied now of three kidlets and embracing three giggly grand-chicklets. Her greatest passion is to share those nuggets in her devotionals and inspirational stories, fulfilling God’s call on her life to encourage others and glorify the Lord. Lynn writes monthly for several sites and bi-weekly at her online residence, Heading Home. 

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Psalm 84, Revisited

Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone and also has two devotional books in print. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan. The sequel to One Smooth Stone will be released in 2011Visit her website at www.vinemarc.com

A friend posted a cartoon on Facebook the other day. The big dog is asking, “What exactly is a New Year’s resolution?” The answer made me chuckle – “It’s a to-do list for the first week of January.”

Like many people, I’ve been working on my to-do list, hoping it lasts a little longer than the first week of the new year. I’ve been pondering my writing life, assessing and setting goals and trying to decide what’s next. The sequel to my first novel will be released this year, and I know there is a long editing process yet to be done to bring that book to the marketplace, but once that is finished, I’ve been trying to discern what path I should take. I’ve been praying, and have asked others to pray, but so far no clear direction has been given. The options lay before me like juicy pieces of tropical fruit on a platter. I know all of them will taste good, all of them will be nourishing and all of them will bear more fruit according to their kind. But which one is what God wants for me?

I was getting a little tense because the answer wasn’t clear, until I remembered something I told my daughter when she was trying to make a decision about the direction of her life. I’d come across Psalm 84 and e-mailed verses 3 and 4 to her, because they struck a cord. I pulled out my Bible and read them again.

“Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young – a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.” (Ps. 84:3-4).
As I read those words I pictured those tiny birds flying high over the temple in Jerusalem. I thought about all that they would have seen and heard – the priests and believers coming and going to offer sacrifices, the songs sung in praise and worship, and above all, the presence of God in that place. I thought how true it is, even today, that we must nest close to the Lord and his people.

So many times God has told us this – stay close, let me gather you under my wing, hide yourself in me, abide in me. I think he said it so often because He knows how prone we are to not do it. We pull away so quickly; we find reasons to stay away, to our detriment.
It’s interesting that the very next verse talks not about resting in one place, but about those “who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.” The principle is clear: You don’t have to stay in one place, or make any one decision, to stay close to the Lord. Whether we choose one path or another for our lives or our careers, as long as we stay close to the Lord, depending on Him for strength and guidance, praising and thanking Him, we will be in the right place. It was because those little birds were nesting in the courts of the Lord that they could fly high and far in any direction they chose.

So my prayer has changed from, “Lord show me what to do,” to, “Lord, help me to stay close to You.”

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