Have you ever felt like you wasted the entire year without achieving any of your goals? I know that is how I felt 2017 ended for me. Before I share with you what I learned over this past year, I would love to hear about some of your goals for this coming year.

What are some of your goals for 2018? Do you feel like you failed a bit in this area in 2017?

I know for me personally I like to set goals every year, but I have not always conquered the goals that I set out to accomplish.

As I sat at the beginning of this year thinking about 2017 and reflecting on all the things I accomplished this year, I kind of felt defeated. I then spent some time praying…

This is how my prayer kind of went, Dear Heavenly Father, please don’t allow me to sit back and waste another year, help me to stay in your will and do great things for you.

Then I heard this soft reply, that came with a vision. (I don’t always get mental images but this particular time I did.) ” Paula, please don’t feel that you wasted anytime, remember I am always working in your life, let me show you. Then I saw a picture of a very long road ahead of me and it was empty. Then I heard God say that 2017 was a year of clean up and preparing away for 2018. He said you’ve been consistently walking down this long road and doing a lot of clean up of things that have been in your way. You have been dealing with all your unhealthy patterns and giving them to me, you have been letting go of the people who are standing in your way, you have been maturing your relationship with me even in times when you feel like you were walking the road alone. You didn’t stop trusting me, you continued to walk the road no matter what. You didn’t allow your feelings to control you. He then said, I want you to know Paula the road is clear now, you have prepared away for 2018!

At this point I just sat back and said, wow.

You know sometimes we can be so hard on ourselves because we feel like we didn’t achieve much or meet that one goal or maybe we feel like God isn’t working in our life. But the more I mature in age and in my walk with God I am learning he is working at all times. I’ve learned that we go through different seasons. Sometimes it’s a season of rest, or a season of growth. Sometimes it’s a season of being promoted or it may be a season of being demoted. There is one thing that I now know for sure is his love and word never changes.

I truly believe God wants to give us the desire of our heart, but he knows when we are ready and when is the perfect time. He knows if we are mature enough to get what we are asking for. He knows if what we are really asking for is best for our family and marriage. We serve such an amazing God, and if we just trust him, he has an amazing plan.

So I share this with you today to encourage, let God prepare the way for 2018. Listen to what he is trying to tell you. Be sure not to compare your life to someone else. This might be your year to do big things, or maybe this is a year of clearing a path for next year. Be sensitive to what he wants to do, because they are both significant to his perfect plan for you life!