Today on New Year’s Eve, I am ready to leave 2019 behind and step into the future hope of 2020.  How about you?  Are you ready for a new day?

A few years ago I received a promise:  “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” [Jeremiah 29:11 NIV]

I’ve written about it a few times.  Over the last two months, I’ve been pondering hope, future, past, and present along with God’s promises.  I’ll let you in on a little secret about Milly.  I live in the future tense.

When I plan to do something I try to figure out how my action will impact the future.  What is the ripple effect of today on tomorrow?  I am rarely spontaneous.  To tell the truth, I don’t like how I feel when I have to be spontaneous.  It is unsettling to act without thinking of the future.  This is a fearful way to live.

Looking back I realized, growing up with a workaholic father, gave me a skewed vision of hope and future.  I lived for the future because, if I was there I didn’t have to pay attention to now.  The present tense can be a place of hurt and torment.  It’s a fact, so Milly put on her rose-colored glasses and turned her mind’s eye to the future.

I’m not saying to give up on dreaming.  I am still a firm believer in “don’t quit your daydreams.”  We all need dreams, goals, and plans.  I just took it to an unhealthy extreme.  It is hard for me to find peace in the present.  I tend to wait for the bad news of the day.

At the moment my thoughts terrify me.  The next step in my journey is to live in the moment, His moment.  This requires me to do something I am uncomfortable with, enjoying the present.

Writing this post I realized there is no ‘tense’ with God; no future tense or past tense.  And even a present tense does not bind him.  He is Omnipresent.  He exists in everything.  I don’t understand this concept.

In Him, I have everything; past, present, and future all at once.  He understands why I do what I do.  I don’t have to explain it.  He doesn’t quiz me because he understands me.  He also understands how my life needs to unfold.  In my human way of thinking, I am not meant to understand.  Not yet anyway.

Here’s the upshot.  The promise gives me comfort when I need to know that God has a plan for my life.  When things get turned upside down and inside out, I have his promises to strengthen me.  We all need hope.  But what if there is more?  So I looked up the definition of hope:  1. Confident desire; 2. Likelihood of success;… 5. Trust [Encarta Dictionary English (North America)]

I like that last definition.  When I think of trust in this verse, I place my trust in God without a timeline.  It is in the past, present, and future.  I entrust my future to God’s hands.  My trust is in Him to enjoy this present day.  I trusted Him in my past but I also trust Him not to condemn me by my past.

As I write, on New Year’s Eve, my heart softens and finds the ability to forgive myself and others.  He wants to give me hope… Trust…  Meaning, I trust Him to provide my future.  I trust Him to heal my past.  He gives me the resources I need today as I trust His grace.  He provides for me.  I hope in Him.  I trust in Him.

May your New Year be blessed.  I hope/trust I will connect with you through Him in 2020!

Milly

P.S.  For some reason, unknown to me, I could not get the audio file to play.  My apologies for the inconvenience.  I’ll see if it will work tomorrow.  God Bless.