I love having new goals and dreams for the new year. I kind of hate resolutions. I feel like we’ve all learned by now those hardly ever truly stick.

But I set one. Are you ready? It’s deep.

Light the good candles.

I know. Take a minute and just be inspired. I’ll wait.

 

I buy cheap candles. For Christmas two years ago, my husband bought me a Homesick candle. Those suckers are expensive! So I made this one last. I would only light it on super special occasions. Guys, I’ve had it for over two years. Honestly, I even hold out on the the cheap ones because I hate to “waste” them.

I realized that I do this in most aspects of my life. I like for things to be in order. I only light the good candles if the house is clean. I hate cooking unless the kitchen is clean first. I can’t relax or enjoy unless all of the outliers are complete. The problem is that I’ve unknowingly translated this into my relationship with God. I often try to compartmentalize my time with God into neat and tidy spaces. But God isn’t neat or tidy or confined. He’s all-encompassing and overwhelming.

Lighting the good candles is the reminder to not wait. To release control. When I wait for the right moment, I’m living out of a mindset of scarcity and lack. That God isn’t really enough. Instead, God is asking me to pour it all out and trust that He’s the God of abundance. Of mercy that’s brand new every day. Of unlimited hope.

True breakthrough is never ours to manufacture. It is ours to invite. God decides when and how. We decide whether or not we will limit Him. The prayer you are convinced God must not have heard, even though it’s been years. Can He answer it on a Thursday morning? Or are you waiting for just the right moment?

Be honest. Aren’t your deepest relationships built in the most unexpected moments? They’re made in the struggle, the raw, the times that you couldn’t have planned yourself. Most of my favorite memories with my friends or my husband are not on set aside dates or intentional meetings. They’re the times in the car with the music blaring, or the last minute, “Hey, what are you doing?”

When we over protect our space and our time, we don’t leave room for the unexpected.

Miracles.

Breakthrough.

Freedom.

If we could plan it out and create it ourselves, it would lose the supernatural power of our God. What if we truly grasped surrender to however God wanted to move? What if we were just always prepared for the breakthrough in the unexpected?

I don’t want to pretend anymore that God can’t speak to me when I’m cooking dinner for my family. I don’t want to wait until everything feels perfect. I want to invite God in however and whenever He wants. I want to mean it when I say that I trust Him. Don’t you?

So I invite you to steal my resolution or come up with your own this year.

Light the good candles.

 

“We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment                                   that He has already thrown open His door to us.                                                                         We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we would stand –                                       out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory,                                                       standing tall and shouting our praise.”                                                                                 [Romans 5:1-2 msg]