I Press On

As you probably know by now, I'm not one for setting New Year's resolutions.  I don't have anything against them, per se, it's just that I know myself.  No matter how lofty my goals or how firm my motivation, I have a tendency to fall short of the mark.  I don't mean to.  I have every intention of seeing things through and reaching my full potential, but life often has other plans for me.  Trials, obstacles, distractions--these things and more make it nearly impossible to fulfill the resolutions I set forth for myself.  So, rather than set them up and find myself disappointed when I don't make it, I just don't bother to make the resolutions to begin with.

That being said, I have decided that this year I will live by a new motto:  I press on.  I have no idea what 2017 may bring.  It may be a "Joseph Year" where everything I touch prospers and succeeds (see Genesis 39), or it could be a "Charlie Brown Year" where, according to his own words, everything I touch turns to a disaster.  Obviously, I'm hoping for the first, but only God knows what awaits me in the coming year.  But no matter what happens, I pray that I can fervently say, "I press on."

When trouble comes, I press on.

When I stand alone, I press on.

When I feel like giving up, I press on.

When it seems like God has turned against me, I press on.

When the answers to my prayers seem so far away, I press on.

When prosperity finds me, I press on.

When my health wavers, I press on.

When my faith is tested, I press on.

Day after day, week after week, I pray that God will remind me of my motto for the year and that He will give me the strength to follow through with it.  I cannot control what will happen over the next year, but I can choose how I will respond.

I PRESS ON!

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:13-14
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