2015 promises to be a year of newness for the Duggan family. We do not yet know WHERE God will lead us, only that He WILL, and of that we are certain. As the New Year rolled in, my meditation was (and still is) on the truth of this verse:

Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:13-14

I will not let my past – especially the immediate past – ruin the future.  I recently read a powerful quote from Andy Andrews, “Don’t let the last few moments affect the next few moments.” I can learn from my past, but I cannot live in my past.

So many times we allow our past – good and bad – to cripple us. We look back fondly at “the good ol’ days” and miss out on the new and fresh God wants to bring to our lives. We fail to recognize that everything has a season and every season has a reason (Ecclesiastes 3:1). While the past season may have brought us much joy, God has even greater glory to reveal in us as we grow in our walk with Him. I can learn from and give thanks for the good past, but I can’t stay there.

Sometimes we let our painful past obscure our view of the promising future we have in Christ. We hold the hurt, harbor the bitterness, and hang on to the offenses. We should rather give thanks for the difficult circumstances and people in our past, knowing the God uses them to refine us and develop our faith (James 1:2-4).

So as 2014 closes and 2015 dawns, I face the New Year with a thankful and expectant heart. I thank God for His sustaining grace that I have experienced over the last two months in ways I never knew were possible. I would not have experienced God in this way without the hurt.

I am putting the past in the past and I am pressing on. I am excited about what the coming year will hold. God has used the events of the latter part of 2014 to put my family and me in a position to go somewhere or do something that we might have never considered otherwise. Yes. 2015 is going to be a great year.

What about you? What do you need to release from 2014 so you can receive in 2015? How has God positioned you so that He can work in and through your life? Worthy consideration for all of us as we begin this year.