What Is Your View on 2022?

I said in church the first Sunday of 2022 that 2021 was a great year for us. Some looked a little puzzled as if “how could that be?”. The answer is “We chose it to be a great year!”. Looking back, I lost a brother and a nephew in 2021. I lost a good friend and watched another struggle with health issues. We had heavy unexpected expenses in some areas. But it was a great year!

Why was it a great year? Because we chose it to be. We do have a choice on how we approach life. Disappointments will happen. People will die. Frustrations do occur. People will hurt you and misunderstand you. But God is good in the midst of it all and we must look straight ahead at the incredible things in store for us and refuse to focus on regrets, hurts, offenses, and losses. God’s promises are not affected by the circumstances of life.

How we approach 2022 will be our choice. Will we continue to wallow in the disappointments and pain of 2021 or will we choose to rise above them and take the lessons learned and move on. We should have come out of 2021 much wiser than when we entered it. We should have come out of 2021 more determined than when it began. I could hardly wait for 2022 to start because of the incredible strategy and wisdom received in 2021. It’s like finally getting off the training field and into the real game. 2021 was really all about 2022 because I believe 2022 is a pivotal year in the life of our nation and God’s Ekklesia!

I thank God that He speaks to us to guide us along the way. He told us in the midst of Covid that we are “people of Goshen”. We are taking this word very seriously. He told us we are in a Joseph season of Preparation. We are taking this very seriously. God speaks if we are listening. Too many people who are struggling with life are tuned into the wrong frequency and listening to voices that offer no hope. Problems come, but God is greater! Sickness happens, but God is healer! People will frustrate us, but God gives us the grace of His Spirit to endure.

Imagine living in Goshen when everyone around you has flies, but you. Everyone else’s crops are being destroyed by storms and locusts, but yours are untouched. Everyone else’s land is covered in darkness, yet you have light. And then death is heard everywhere except in Goshen. Can you imagine the awesome reverential respect for the God of Israel that He would show such distinction and favor to the people of Goshen? Everyone in Goshen saw the plagues and even lived in the midst of them, but they did not participate in them. They were people of Goshen!

Living a victorious and happy life does not mean that we do not have problems, it means we overcome them. We choose to believe what God says and we choose to act like we believe what God says.

We have been tremendously blessed but the greatest gift of 2021 to us was a closer relationship with God. Nothing can compare to being in HIs Presence and experiencing HIs incredible love. We value the times He spoke so gently, reprimanded so sternly and then just chuckled when He reminded us of a promise He made.

So, 2022 will be what we make it. Choose to enjoy! Choose to embrace! Choose to let go and be free! It’s really our choice to make! We must not misunderstand the power of the freedom God gave us to choose life…His Life! (Exodus 30:19; John 10:10)

Happy New Year!