Let the adventure begin!

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We made it! We got through Christmas and are now firmly entrenched in 2019.

Were you, like me, running towards the end of the year? Swooping up your child in your arms as you kept running? Stopping briefly for Christmas shopping, tying up loose ends at work, basting a chook and whipping up a pav?

But did you, like me, end up tripping over and belly-fl opping across the finish line? I once heard the famous missionary Jackie Pullinger quoted as saying, We are tired and we’re sick, but we’re not sick and tired. My inner voice immediately cried out, how? How can you not be sick and tired? Yes, I long to wait for the refreshment of the Holy Spirit, but my deadlines don’t wait!

Th at’s why I loved Sue Hay’s refl ection (p. 20–21) on ‘A Fresh Start’—New Year’s resolutions are about us trying to take control of our lives, but a ‘fresh start’ is about allowing God to take control, and trust him with the journey.

At the beginning of this year, we mark a new chapter in our journey. It is yet a blank page. We may have an idea of how we want to fill in the pages—but when we let go, we let God tell our story.

Even when we’re sick and we’re tired, God gives us the peace of knowing we have purpose. Perhaps God has things in store we could never have imagined. He will take us to destinations yet unknown. Let the adventure begin!

Ingrid Barratt
Editor

Bible verse

Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
Ngā Whakatauki 19:21
He maha ngā whakaaro i roto i te ngākau o te tangata; e tū tonu ana ia tā Ihowā tikanga.