Wow, 2014 has flown by don’t you think? We’re all one year older, one year wiser, and hopefully we have all learned from our mistakes. If you haven’t read my previous blog about an update detailing a few of the important and impacting events that occurred this year for me personally, and relaying them back to how God has shaped me as a person and a believer today; then you can read the blog here.

But if you have read the blog, then you can see that many important events occurred this past year that I am proud of, that have increased my confidence, and my walk with God, with the formation of my family’s and my food franchise business being one of these key events.

Hands up who can remember what you did on New Year’s Day this year. Nope, me neither. I don’t really remember the intricate details of everything that happened on the day, and although the past 300 and something days have been quick, jam packed, fun, enjoyable and fast paced, they also have been very slow as well. It seems like ages ago that my family and I started on the food franchise business journey, and that whole process started in May this year! Overall, 2014 has been a year with a lot of things jam packed within them. In fact, this year may be one of the most satisfying year’s ever!

For a little while, I would like to take the time to reflect upon one of the many traditions that people around the world undertake. What would that be? The controversial and sometimes celebrated New Year’s Resolutions of course! Now for me, I don’t really have any planned out resolutions this year per se. In fact I don’t think I have made a list any year, as far as resolutions go. I have had hopes, dreams, goals and plans, but as far as a ‘firm decision to do or not do something’, which is what the word means according to Google; my thinking on the subject in previous years, was not to be tied down to a vow like what I thought a resolution but rather go into the year open minded about what God wants to do in our lives, and then run with it when God prompts and prods, along with confirmation from friends and family. That’s what we have done all throughout 2014- especially with the business. We listened for God’s voice, and once we heard it, we prayed for signs and asked friends, and then made the decision when we had peace in our hearts. A resolution without God in it is futile, and by that definition I haven’t taken the plunge in that sense. But are New Year’s Resolutions a big deal anyway? If we do or don’t adhere to them or even devise one in the first place, does it even matter?

When you think about people’s resolutions, some of them consist of losing weight, or being in a stable job, or being in a committed relationship with a girlfriend or boyfriend. When you think about it, a fair chunk of people make resolutions, then resolve to attain and meet them with their own strength, and time and time again, you hear the phrase at the end of the year ‘I didn’t meet my resolutions this year’. Maybe that’s why the term hasn’t appealed that much to me at all, because of the association of ‘doing it in your own strength’ versus relying on God.

But what I do know is that a ‘resolution’ if you will that I want to strive for in 2015, is to actively listen closer to God and follow in His will, even when it’s hard, and even if where He is leading is similar to the story of Jonah. While some may say that that ‘resolution’ isn’t worth holding onto and running with because of the vagueness, I will say that following God’s will is tough, it isn’t easy. Just look at the various heroes in the Bible, who faithfully and earnestly followed Jesus even when all around them pointed to deserting Him. The disciples followed Jesus til their death, and Job praised God when his family died and his friends left him. Daniel surrendered to God’s will in the lion’s den, and Peter followed Jesus even when he was walking (and sometimes sinking) on the water. If I can follow the will of God and be closer to Him even half as much as those in the Bible who trusted God wholeheartedly, then 2015 is bound to be a fantastic year- it’ll be a good year nonetheless.

To end this blog, I will share a song that has been on my mind for a bit, and one that speaks about the feelings associated with New Year’s Day. Every year, we watch the fireworks (at 9pm live at Coogee, and at 12 midnight on Channel 9 on TV. And every year we sit, and talk, in awe of the dazzling fireworks display, and praying to God to bless the year in its abundance. The emotions of the accomplishment of the previous year and the looking forward to the next year is all important in the first few moments of the beginning of the certain year as everything is placed in perspective. So let me leave you with Abandon’s “New Year’s Day”- and be blessed and inspired as we sing to God because our slate has been wiped clean! Our sins have been erased, and it should feel like New Years Day all the time, because Jesus is our Saviour!

What are your goals, hopes, plans and dreams for 2015? Let us know in the comments!