The longer it feels like you aren’t moving, the more the questions start to build. Where are these hazards coming from? Why is there so much resistance? Should I try to get off this road? Am I even going the right way?!? You might even go as far as questioning your overall decision-making skills. Why didn’t I just go?!? This is a dangerous thought-process to follow. It becomes easier for thoughts to start trending toward second-guessing what was once so clear.

One of the things that we have to remember is that when we set out to do something that’s in the will of God…we do so knowing that the Chief Producer, the Chief Creative Director and the Chief Architect knows everything that we could possibly need to know. And not only that, we have the benefit of knowing that He’s with us. He’ll go before us. He’ll fight our battles. He will give us strategy and prepare the way. What a privilege!

It is a beautiful thing to begin each day asking the Lord, “How would You like for me to spend the day ahead?” There’s something special that happens when we submit and surrender our desires to His; when we begin to ask questions (and actually listen). When we invite the Lord to show us His priorities when ours aren’t aligned. What on my list can wait? How can I point others to you today? Who would you like for me to interact with today? What conversations would you like me to have? And while you may not always get an immediate answer, it’s the invitation welcoming the Holy Spirit to point you in the right direction. It’s the mindset and heart posture to yield your day and follow the prompts as they come. And, if we’re honest, sometimes we get the answer but we try to avoid it or minimize it as if it we didn’t hear it…because that wasn’t on our list…

Just as you hear that we have to be mindful of the company that we keep - “because they may rub off on you” - how much more can we expect that the Lord would rub off on us. That our character would be improved. That our thoughts would be elevated. That our faith would increase. That our creativity would hit a new high. There’s no gag here. The Lord wants you to succeed. He wants all of His children to win. He wants you to move forward with confidence, assurance and guidance. For you to have wise counsel; and to do all that you do with excellence, unto the Father. He wants you to know that you are already equipped!

Will you stay the course? Or will you throw in the towel? Two roads diverge…and you have to choose one.

Take inventory of the voices and/or thoughts (aka “noise”) that’s interfering with your ability to think clearly. Sometimes the noise is internal. The thoughts we entertain. The bad habits we’ve developed in our go-to train of thinking. The un-checked rabbit holes we can find ourselves going down that lead us…to nowhere good. The “what ifs”, “should’ve, would’ve, could’ves” and flat-out made up scenarios that aren’t likely going to happen, at all. Maybe the noise is fear-filled thoughts that are deterring you from doing the very thing God desires for you to do in this season? These are all red flags and clear distractions that we don’t need to spend time entertaining.

Maybe you need to get up and write that book. Get up and start that business. Get up and read your Bible. Get up and go back to school. Get up and create. Get up and pray. Get up and move in a different direction, altogether. I’m not sure what it is, but I’m sure you do! Whatever it may mean for you, it’s time to stop being stagnant. It’s time to stop settling and/or overthinking the next move. It’s time to take action!

Something special happens when we enter into a new year. There’s this level of motivation that gets us to do things that perhaps we weren’t really doing as much toward the latter part of the previous year. There’s a desire to start fresh. To leave everything we didn’t like in the year before - and move ahead - with a clean slate.