It’s a new year ... a time for establishing resolutions! In 2023, common New Year's resolutions included improving our mental health, fitness, diet, and finances. These represent excellent goals—but a major obstacle stands in the way of our success: the person we see each day in the mirror.
Let me explain. I consider myself an expert at getting my own way. I believe I can accomplish much more in a day than is humanly possible. I become discouraged when I don’t see results in what I define as a timely manner. I get caught up with all the “good” opportunities that cross my path, leaving me exhausted physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And, being completely honest, I’ve also tended to resist areas of growth because of the pain, failure, and difficulty that are needed to change.
As a child, I was taught I could grow up to be whatever I wanted to be if I worked hard enough. All I needed was the determination and grit to succeed. Many of us survived undergraduate and graduate nursing education programs this way. We sacrificed sleep, health, time, and family to simply get this “thing” behind us. We told ourselves it would get better.
Forgetting my Identity
Even though I was a believer in Jesus, I forgot my identity in Christ. I forgot my source of strength. I looked for ways to numb the pain and difficulties I experienced. I became angry at God and questioned his presence in my life. Relationships became strained. I felt alone and isolated as I tried to rewrite my story by controlling who and what I could around me.
But God never turned his back on me. He continued to pursue me. He allowed me to experience the consequences of my choices, but he didn’t leave me alone on that journey. Like the shepherd who left the 99 sheep to go after the one that had wandered (Luke 15:1-7), I was found. And as I continue to follow God through life’s challenges, I continue to learn how to trust.
Who’s Writing My Story?
What has changed? It’s the author of my story. It’s knowing I cannot trust in myself, but I can trust the one who made me. I hear God say, “I am the author of restoration. Let me write your story.” In him, I am whole. I’m a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). In him, I can grow and move through the pain, challenges, and difficulties of life. In him, I know acceptance, love, worth, and value. In him, I have purpose.
In starting this new year, you and I can each keep reaching toward the purposes God has made us for by trusting more deeply and honestly in him, the best one to be writing our story.
Christy Secor, DNP, RN, CDWF, is NCF's Professional Ministries Director and an accomplished writer for JCN and other outlets. She continues, however, to choose to let God write her story.
Find the full article from which this post is excerpted in the newly-released issue of the Journal of Christian Nursing.
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