I was struck by an article that I read recently that had to do with New Yorkers meeting in Times Square. Not for the usual New Year’s Eve celebration with Ryan Seacrest, although thousands attended, this gathering was much smaller in comparison than those who gathered to watch the ball drop.

It was Good Riddance Day.

Good Riddance Day is a day for people to come together and write down their biggest regret or struggle from that year and place those regrets in a giant paper shredder. (You can read about Good Riddance Day here.)

What would you write down on a piece of paper to shred as your biggest regret or struggle from 2013?

It’s not a trick question…but it’s kind of a trick question. Here’s what I mean:

With God, nothing is wasted.

Trials, tribulations, regrets, struggles, sickness — everything, God uses those experiences to mold us into the people He wants us to be. More importantly, God uses everything in our lives — past, present, and future, to bring glory to his name.

What struggles have you tried to fix on your own and you know it’s time to turn it over to God, officially — finally?

Do you beat yourself up about a particular sin that you struggle with? Maybe you’ve tried to “fix” it for years — in your own power. I am beginning to think that it’s not going to work that way. This begins a crazy cycle of failure that leads to frustration that leads to failure…

Check out what Paul said to the Christians in Ephesus:

“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 1:15-20

Do we realize that the surpassing greatness of His power that is valuable to us?

Paul is talking about the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s something we can experience. It’s something Christ does in us and through us. He accomplishes something we cannot accomplish ourselves.

But only when we allow him to.

So — whatever you are trying to “fix” in your spiritual development, end the crazy cycle and yield it to God’s power by allowing him to work in ways that only he can.

 

(Photo: Flickr)