Hope for the New Year, episode 127

0:00 If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right here at the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. And also help and hope for your own life journey. It's the first of the year, isn't it? Hope, newness, resolutions, promises fulfilled, past forgiven. A new year lifts us up, shaking off the remnants of last year's mistakes, opening a panorama of a better future. We love to leave the hurts and failures of yesterday, believing that tomorrow is filled with sunshine and promise, except when you love a prodigal.

0:48 Too often fears went out. You hope, but you dare not get your hopes up. You dream, hoping it doesn't once again become a nightmare. You believe, but always with clouds of doubt blocking the brightness you desire. In our Prayer for Prodigal site and Facebook page, we have had some wonderful stories of hope fulfilled and dreams coming true among those we have loved and prayed for this past year. We are so grateful and we praise God, fills our hearts and our mouths.

1:28 But we also have had disappointments, bad choices, painful separations, even tragedies. Hopefully, even in those we can say, thank you, Lord, because we have a faithful Father, a compassionate Savior, and a powerful Holy Spirit, and the assurance that all the promises of God are yes in Jesus. I'll say that again. We have the assurance that all the promises of God are yes in Jesus. Can we have hope for the new year?

2:11 Possibly so, will all our desires and dreams come to pass? Probably no. Will our protocols break our hearts again? Possibly so. Will we make mistakes as we seek to restore and reconcile? Without a doubt, we will make some mistakes. The only certainty we have in life and in life with a protocol is God. The only certainty we have is God. He knows. He knows it all. He knows your plans, your prayers for next year.

2:53 He knows the choices your loved one will make. He knows his grand plan and how this all works together. He doesn't just know, though, he cares. He looks at them and at us with tender tears. He feels the rejection, the loss, the fear, the disappointment. He stays with us through it all. He knows and he cares and he is able. He is not a God who wishes he could help. He can. He can help.

3:33 He is El Shaddai, the Almighty. He rules heaven and earth and even our lives. He said nothing is impossible for him. So my challenge to you and to myself is to make God himself the object of your New Year hopes and dreams, to seek him above all, to entrust my protocol, your protocol, and ourselves and his loving and able care, to surrender my plans, to believe God's intentions are very good, to trust his spirit, to give me everything I need with my loved one in the coming year.

4:23 Gratefully in my decades of walking with God, of experiencing his love, mercy, and grace, of seeing his faithfulness, I have learned a lot of realities and lessons that help me keep hoping. And because I need help remembering, I usually put my lessons into slogans that will jog my memory. You probably know all of these truths already, but these memory applications, those little slogans have helped me greatly. And my brief explanation of each one represents only a tiny fraction of all God has taught me through these lessons.

5:07 So here are some of those things that I have learned. First God is God and God is good. I can't tell you how many times I say that when things don't look good, but God is God and he is good. When circumstances are difficult, uncertain, painful, scary, or just not to my liking, I remember that God is truly God. He is sovereign, in control, aware, and able. So it is very good to know that he is also good.

5:49 How frightening if this powerful God were evil. Jeremiah tells us that God is always looking for ways to do good to us. The thing I've learned, the work of God is done on our knees. Then we find out what happened. Most of us pray a lot, especially when you have a prodigal. Morning and evening, maybe every meal when we have a need. We pray about everything. But I have discovered that prayer is not a necessary activity for my work and efforts to succeed.

6:30 Prayer is my work. The fruit will then be discovered as I head out to live my life. Third, the greener grass was spray painted by the evil one. Most of us are addicted to the greener grass syndrome. We desire something that is newer or better or more fun, or we think some other place or job or person would be more satisfying. Because God uses discontentment in our lives to spur us on to new opportunities. But mostly he urges us to be content, to rest in his provision.

7:15 The evil one loves to distract and attract us with this bright spray paint. We need, as Paul suggests, to choose contentment. Isn't that really true? We always think, if this happened, or I want this to happen, or Lord, do this. If we can ask him, but we need to have this open heart and mind that says, this is what I would like, but I want what you have, Lord. Sometimes that discontentment leads us to a new opportunity. But a lot of times it just causes us to not be satisfied in what God has given us at this time.

7:59 So we choose to be content with where God has us. The fourth lesson I've learned, always seek to encourage everyone. The usual understanding of encourage is to come alongside someone who is discouraged, or feeling sad, or fearful, and by words and actions and presence to lift them up, to share positive attitudes, to give hope and help. And that's all good. But there's more to encourage than that. Another word that is similar and in the same place as encourage is exhort.

8:40 And that conveys a fuller meaning. I usually define my sense of calling from the Lord to encourage God's daughters and sons to become all that God created them to be, and to do all that God has created them to do. And so I spend a lot of my time in life encouraging people, suggesting they could try this, assuring them that God will take care of this, especially encouraging people with prodigals, that God's still in control. And so encouraging people is extremely important. But there's one more key part of encouraging.

9:24 The literal meaning of encourage is to put courage into. And isn't that what it takes courage to follow Jesus, to discover who and why he made me, yourself, to pursue all that he has for us, and to keep hoping for a good future for a prodigal you love? So may I encourage you right now. God is still working. He hasn't given up. He knows what your prodigal needs. He knows what you need. And he is involved. He's engaged and he will make it happen in the right way at the right time.

10:11 The fifth lesson I learned, never settle for less than God's best. My kids probably heard that a lot when they were growing up. God tells us in Ephesians 2.10 that he already has good works prepared for us to do. And though he provides all we need through his spirit, we still need to choose to work hard and to do the part that he has for us for his glory. Sometimes I'm just too tired or have too many things on my plate to do any of them well, or perhaps something else looks more desirable.

10:52 I'd rather do that. I have told my children and myself many times, don't settle, depend on God's guidance and strength and provision. Never settle for less than his best. And that includes in loving your prodigal. Keep loving, even when you have to have strong boundaries, even when there are consequences, even when you don't know where they are. Keep loving, and God will give you the ability to do that. And then my last of these little lessons I've learned, there are many more.

11:36 I just picked these out. His way is always better than my way. When I came to Christ on New Year's Eve many decades ago, I didn't fully understand what I was committing to. But this I was sure of. I was choosing God's way instead of my way for my life. Now you have heard me say before that I always wanted my own way. So this was a significant commitment. And I would love to say that that choice settled it. But in reality, every day I get to make choices. Will I demand my own way?

12:18 Or will I believe the truths that we've been looking at here and surrender to his will? Hopefully I will continue to choose his way over mine more and more. And mostly I have. And know this. This is important for you. My 15-year prodigal wilderness journey has been a major teacher in my learning to trust God and choose his way. Something that we each need to understand, to grasp in the prodigal journey, is this not just about a prodigal, the person we love.

13:00 It's also about us. God's so creative and he's always working in us as well as working in that person we love as well as pursuing them. And it's extremely important to allow God to do that work in us and to be responsive to that. Really and truly, God has taught me more almost than any other way through the 15 years of hard times with our prodigal. I learned most of the things that I share on this podcast because I walked through that journey and God taught me things and God showed me things and he showed me who he is and who he will always be for me.

13:49 I can trust him. I hope these few highlights from my years of seeking to walk in the light will encourage you as they have guided me. May this coming new year reveal more of God's creativity, love, and faithfulness for you and for your prodigal. So take some time to think about life lessons that you've learned, but specifically lessons you've learned in this time with a prodigal. And if you're real new in it, you'll learn some. Be alert. But if you've been on this journey for a while, God has been working in you just as he's working in your prodigal.

14:35 So identify something that you've seen him do in you, something you understand more than you ever have before, hard decisions you've been able to make, trusting decisions you've been able to make. Let God speak to you about the work he's doing in you as well as in your prodigal. God bless you. Have a great new year.