“Where have you come from, and where are you going?” (Genesis 16:8)
The last days of the year are a good time for reflection and resolution. Have you ever had a year that was so bad you could not live with the idea of another year of the same? Are you there now? If you are, you could be ready to hear the question quoted above that God likes to ask people from time to time.
This is the consummate question of direction. It implies that if we do not have a crisis that changes things, we are going where we have come from.
Sometimes we are the thing that needs to change. Jeremiah actually mocks us for trying to change ourselves: “Why do you gad about so much to change your ways? … Can the Ethiopian change the color of his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good, who are accustomed to doing evil.” (Jeremiah 2:36; 13:23)
There is a big difference between trying to change ourselves and being changed by God. Unless we are changed by God, or God changes what only He can change, we’re trapped in a cycle of going where we have come from.
With great spiritual discernment David asked God to create in him a new heart and God answered that prayer for him (Psalm 51:10). God can do that today. We’re not doomed to that cycle of going where we have come from. We can be changed and God can change the things that must change so we will not go where we have come from next year.
Confess that you can’t change yourself or your circumstances, but believe God can as you enter the New Year… then watch at God work.
Dick Woodward, 30 December 2011
4SpiritualSecrets 
Hello Webmaster,
Is there a way to share these on FaceBook?
Thanks,
Rogie Breese
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This is me again. So i went to the website (here) and found the answer. Sorry to waste your time. Love reading these devotionals. A great memorial to a wonderful Pastor.
THANX, Pastor Dick, for those inspiring and encouraging words. I pray for you and am want you to know that you are an inspiration and a Blessing to me,. May you continually find peace, grace, and courage in the One Who loves you far more than we can comprehend, and Who is holding you in His perfect will. Blessing to you and to your faithful Life Partner, to your wife, Jenny, too. Have a BLESSED 2016!