A New Vision For Your Summer
Feeling weary or stuck? Ask God for a new vision this summer and discover renewed joy, peace, and purpose for the season ahead.
As summer approaches, I wonder how YOU are feeling?
Excited as you look forward to vacations, a slower schedule, and family reunions?
Exhausted as you anticipate entertaining young kids?
Wary of trying to balance kids at home and your profession?
Wondering how you’ll get “it” all done?
Nervous about a family gathering with some folks who don’t get along?
Fearful of the economic downturn and how it will impact your finances?
Longing for refreshment from the Lord and hoping for time alone to nurture your own relationship with him?
I imagine we’ve all experienced these different emotions and others, too.
Over the years, I’ve realized again and again how much I need a new vision for the season ahead. It’s too easy to get stuck in a rut. A new vision breathes life into weary souls and provides a fresh anticipation for God’s work within me.
Asking Him for a fresh vision.
I remember a specific season when I felt stuck. There wasn’t a clear reason. I just felt stale, blah, drained. Emotionally and mentally exhausted. Not wanting to remain in this stupor, I returned to one of my favorite verses, Jeremiah 33:3: “Call unto me and I will show you great and mighty things you do not know.”
“Father, you know how I’m feeling, and you understand. I need a fresh vision for the coming months, something I haven’t grasped before, something to get me out of this slump. Please give me a new theme you want me to ask you for in my life.”
At this time, three desires came to my mind: Father, I desire a renewed mind, a rejoicing spirit, and a resting soul. I didn’t quite know what this would look like, but I began to ask God daily for these three things and to ask Him to reveal to me what this might look like in my life.
I prayed this again a year later. Three different concepts arose: Make me listen, laid back, and laugh. Yet another year, I asked Him that I would wait, watch, and wonder.
The past couple of years, I’ve been asking for a pure heart, a praising heart, and a peaceful heart.
What has this looked like?
I am not by nature laid back. I am a typical type A person who thinks and strategizes way too much about the future. Sometimes I long to be more laid back, and I have found a key to this for me is to ask at the beginning of the day for His help to live in the moment I’m in rather than thinking of what’s next.
Why laughter? I realized it’s easier for me to react to someone or something in frustration when I should instead resort to laughter. Laughter has a way of dissolving tension and enabling perspective. I want to be someone who laughs a lot.
A peaceful heart? In all honesty, worry usually wins over peace in my heart. But I’m finding that when I confess and receive His forgiveness, my heart becomes pure, and then as I move on to praising Him for his specific character traits, a sense of peace begins to settle my heart. This is not a “one and done” but a habit I long to be developing for the rest of my life.
What about you?
Do you need a fresh vision for your summer? Are you longing for God to do something new in your life? All we need to do is ask Him.
In His Word
Jesus encourages us, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be open to you.” (Luke 11:9) and David says, He will confide in us: “The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes His covenant known to them.” (Psalm 25:14)
In Your Life
Set aside a half hour in the coming week and sit alone outside in a beautiful place without your phone. Ask God to give you a new vision for this summer. Be still and listen for His thoughts. “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
We Recommend
Invite a few friends to a summer book club and read Susan’s book, Risky Faith, Becoming Brave Enough to Trust the God Who Is Bigger Than Your World. There are questions at the end of each chapter for discussion.
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