Seeking Jesus In The New Year

The new year is just days away. Now is the time to decide if Jesus is going to be the author of your life and the one whom you seek each and every day.

I remember falling in love with my husband. I could not wait for the phone to ring with him on the other end. When it did, I would just melt right out of my chair as I listened to every word he spoke. I thought about him day and night. I longed to be with him and anxiously awaited the next time I would see him in person. It got to the point where I couldn’t bear the thought of going another minute without him. Perhaps you have a similar understanding of what it felt like when you sought the attention and affirmation of another human being.

That feeling of being intimate and earnestly seeking the attention of one another is the same desire that I want us to capture as we seek God in the new year. I want us to long for Him to be in our hearts, minds, and souls throughout all of 2023. I want to wake up in the morning and start the day with prayer. I want to commune with Him throughout the day and put Him first in my life with every minute detail. I want to pray before every meal and pray before I go to bed. I want to have an open conversation with God all throughout the day and night. And I want to invite Him into every facet of my life. 

If we have more people earnestly seeking Jesus in the new year, we will see the results quickly. We will see more people living out the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We will have more people seeking God and His plan for their life (Jeremiah 29:11). And we will have more people talking about the miracles that God has done for them in a bold and courageous way.

I remember meeting a man who nearly lost his daughter in a plane crash. While I don’t recall all of the details exactly, she was on a flight with three or four others. Everyone on the plane died in the crash except for her. I believe she was found strapped to her seat and dangling from a tree somewhere. She was the only survivor. Her father was so overjoyed that his daughter was alive that he often (daily) met with strangers and introduced himself with a phrase similar to “Let me tell you what Jesus did for my daughter and me.” He continued this excitement of sharing Jesus with the world around him and continuing to tell his story decades after the accident.

That type of excitement about Jesus is what I am looking for in my own life in 2023, and beyond. I want to openly and boldly promote the Gospel and share what He has done in my life. I want to share my Jesus with the world around me and I hope you do to. 

To get started, I want to share about the time that Jesus saved my first-born daughter. It was June 1995. She was born on June 8^th, and life was good. She was a beautiful baby girl with curly dark hair and blue eyes. We stayed in the hospital for a couple of days and were discharged to go home. I remember putting her in her car seat for the first time and riding in the car on the way home, questioning why the hospital let us leave because I had absolutely no idea how to be a mother and take care of another human life. A few days later, I needed to take her back to the hospital for a routine visit. My best friend agreed to drive us since I was still not allowed to drive. I was 19 years old and had little concern for our safety as we drove down the interstate to and from the hospital. On the way back, my friend and I were talking and my baby was in the back seat buckled up like I thought she was supposed to be. As we were talking, my friend quickly switched lanes for what we thought was no reason at all. We continued talking without knowing why she switched lanes when suddenly, over the horizon of the oncoming hill, a car was heading in our direction. It was going the wrong way on the interstate. If my friend had not switched lanes (without knowing the car was on the other side of the hill), we would have all died. God, by His amazing grace and divine plan, moved the car from one lane to the other, and we safely continued on our way. That day was just one of many miracles that I have witnessed in my life. How about you? Please share your miracle story in the comments below.